Rubbish strike in Spanish home of sherry

JEREZ DE LA FRONTERA: A rubbish collectors' strike left hundreds of tonnes of smelly waste strewn through Jerez de la Frontera, the Spanish home of sherry, on Monday.

In three days of action that began Saturday against town hall austerity cuts, more than 500 tonnes of rubbish are yet to be collected with bags piling up around huge containers in the streets.

Now the town hall has issued an edict asking residents to clean the street in front of their homes themselves, and to hold off putting non-biological waste such as cardboard in the bin.

"Citizens' and neighbours' help is crucial in this kind of situation," the edict said.

"We ask Jerez residents to cooperate in cleaning the streets in front of their homes and we also ask citizens not to use rubbish bins that are already full."

People living in Jerez, whose grapes have been used for fortified wines since the Middle Ages, have been experiencing a less pleasant scent since the Urbaser rubbish collection firm went on strike Friday.

Recent rain and cold weather helped somewhat but the odour of ageing rubbish was unmistakable on Monday.

Urbaser workers have gone on unlimited strike against a plan to axe 125 jobs after the municipality lowered the budget for contractors by 20 percent for 2013, according to the local press.

Under minimum service rules, the firm is now making only 10 percent of its usual 270-tonnes-a-day rubbish collections and covering 20 percent of its usual cleaning, the town hall said.

Jerez de la Frontera's budget for hiring contractors had been cut to 19 million euros next year from 25 million this year, said the town's environmental chief, Felisa Rosado.

"When we arrived at the town hall we found a debt of one billion euros ($1.3 billion) for a town of 210,000 inhabitants," said Rosado, whose right-leaning Popular Party won power in Jerez a year and a half ago.

"We had no choice other than to implement an austerity plan."

Jerez's town hall filed a case with a judge on Monday seeking to have the legally required minimum services expanded.