Paris sanitation strike in second week

In day 14 of a sanitation workers strike, refuse is mounting in Paris and Marseille.

Six out of seven incineration plants in Paris have been closed since the strike began Jan. 23.

One in Issy-les-Mollineux is slated to open Feb. 6 after an injunction by the prefecture of police directed striking workers to return to the job.

The strike is part of the ongoing pension reform industrial action that has seized France since Dec. 5. Sanitation workers claim life expectancy puts their projected mortality seven years behind their French compatriots. Garbage collectors feel they should continue to be allowed to stop work early as a result.

But the immediate result has meant a lack of garbage pick-up in the capital and a large port city to the south.

In Marseille, authorities report nearly 3,000 tons of garbage has piled up in streets while workers blocked waste treatment plants for almost two weeks.

Bins have been issued to residents to continue a proper method of disposal.

Six thousand tons of garbage is collected every day in Pairs, according Syctom, the company that runs the site.

Garbage left to fester on city streets raises health concerns about a rise in the rodent population, a problem witnessed by residents.