Striking refuse collectors in the East End have called off their planned month-long walkout after coming to deal.
On Tuesday afternoon Unite the Union members struck a deal with council that will see waste collectors have more holidays and receive a one-off £750 payment.
They are returning to work on Wednesday and for the next few weeks will be joined by private waste contractors employed by the council to catch up on missed collections and street cleaning.
Executive Mayor of Tower Hamlets, Lutfur Rahman, said: “I want to thank all parties for coming to this agreement and, in particular, I want to thank our residents for their patience and apologise for the inconvenience this has caused.
“We found ourselves in a difficult position because the strike was over a national pay dispute. However, with no resolution in sight, we had to act to see if we could negotiate a local solution.”
A Unite spokesman confirmed to the Standard that members had voted to accept a deal on Tuesday afternoon.
The strike brought misery to residents as rubbish piled up. Residents reported rats swarming the rubbish in the tourist hot spot of Shoreditch. Bags containing rotting food and discarded nappies lay in mounds up to 6ft-high in some roads in the borough.
Sirajul Islam, leader of Tower Hamlets Labour, said: “We welcome the deal struck between workers from Unite and the Council.
“It should never have got to the point, where mountains of waste were piled high on our streets, for Lutfur Rahman to realise the value of our refuse worker’s labour.
“It should never have been the case, that tax-payers money was spent on private refuse collections to break the strike action of Unite members.”
