Rotting rubbish was piled high in streets across the East End on Monday as waste collection workers began a second week of strikes over pay.At tourist hotspot Brick Lane, which is famous for its Indian restaurants and bagel shops, residents and business owners described a “Mount Everest” of waste following seven days of missed collections.
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00:00 Piles and piles of rubbish are lining the streets here in Brick Lane in East London.
00:05 This comes as waste collection workers begin their second week of strikes over pay.
00:10 Brick Lane is a famous tourist hotspot, filled with restaurants and vintage shops, but business
00:15 owners say it's putting tourists off.
00:17 First time I saw like this happens.
00:19 And this is very effective for us, for business as well.
00:24 Especially for this corner, because look at everywhere is clean, because they're through
00:28 the day. And you know that our business time is like Thursday, Friday, Saturday, really
00:33 busy. But last week, about halfway.
00:37 Unite the Union says that more than 200 workers have rejected a national flat rate pay rise
00:43 because it's below inflation and amounts to a real world pay cut.
00:48 The manager of Bagel Shop said that they had to spend an extra £400 a week to have the
00:54 rubbish collected.
00:56 Tower Hamlets Council has employed a private waste company to start clearing some of the
01:04 rubbish. But residents here will have to wait for a deal to be struck to see the waste gone
01:10 for good.
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