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Madrid council issues ultimatum on trash strike as garbage piles up in city streets

Associated Press
Published | Updated

A girl plays with a skipping rope next to a pile of rubbish surrounding trash containers during the ninth day of a garbage collectors strike, in Madrid, Spain, Wednesday, Nov. 13, 2013. Street cleaners and garbage collectors who work in the city's public parks walked off the job in a strike called by trade unions to contest the planned layoff of more than 1,000 workers. Madrid's municipal cleaning companies, which have service supply contracts with the city authorities, employ some 6,000 staff. (AP Photo/Emilio Morenatti) (The Associated Press)

A woman enters in a bank as rubbish accumulate in the street during the ninth day of a garbage collectors strike, in Madrid, Spain, Wednesday, Nov. 13, 2013. Street cleaners and garbage collectors who work in the city's public parks walked off the job in a strike called by trade unions to contest the planned layoff of more than 1,000 workers. Madrid's municipal cleaning companies, which have service supply contracts with the city authorities, employ some 6,000 staff. (AP Photo/Emilio Morenatti) (The Associated Press)

A man carrying a suitcase walks past trash thrown along the street during the ninth day of a garbage collectors strike, in Madrid, Spain, Wednesday, Nov. 13, 2013. Street cleaners and garbage collectors who work in the city's public parks walked off the job in a strike called by trade unions to contest the planned layoff of more than 1,000 workers. Madrid's municipal cleaning companies, which have service supply contracts with the city authorities, employ some 6,000 staff. (AP Photo/Emilio Morenatti) (The Associated Press)

Madrid's city council says it will tear up its municipal cleaning contracts with private companies, if they fail to end a trash collectors' strike that has left piles of garbage in the Spanish capital's streets.

Mayor Ana Botella said Wednesday the city "cannot wait any longer for an agreement" to get street cleaners and garbage collectors back to work.

The city's trash cans and larger containers are stinking and overflowing after nine days of an open-ended strike.

Botella said the garbage is not a public health risk, but the situation had become "intolerable."

She gave the companies 48 hours to strike an agreement with labor groups angered by layoffs and pay cuts. After that, she said, the city council will give the cleaning contracts to state-owned Tragsa.