New York threatened with garbage pile-up

Rejecting a $15-a-week wage increase, sanitation workers went on strike Dec. 1 against 500 private carting companies. The union wanted increases of $140 over three years.

If talks fail, a management spokesman predicts that by Christmas more than 300,000 tons of garbage would be left on the streets of New York City and two nearby counties. In 1978, a nine-day strike left mountains of garbage in the streets during the Christmas shopping season.