THOUSANDS of York householders face seeing rubbish piling up in their gardens because of this week's council strike, it was revealed today.

City of York Council said more than 2,000 homes were unlikely to have their green or grey waste picked up until next Friday, following a walkout earlier this week.

Because of alternate weekly waste collections, this means many city homes will have been forced to live with their green or grey bins for 21 days before they are emptied.

The authority said a further 1,000 homes may, or may not, have their bins picked up, depending on how many street collection officers turned into work today.

Another 1,900 homes were likely to receive a collection today - but that still left as many as 3,000 homes awaiting a pick-up.

The council today claimed some of the unions behind the one-day walk out, called in protest at Government plans to alter pension rights for public service workers, had advised their members not to work.

But those claims were furiously denied by Unison, which said members had themselves opted not to work.

Those crews who were working gave priority to terraced streets in Clifton, where residents put their waste out in black bags, and the city centre. The council said efforts were also being made today to pick up from Rawcliffe, Beckfield Lane, Clifton (areas with bins, rather than bags), Knapton and Poppleton.

Householders in these areas were asked to leave their bins out but, if they were not collected, the council said refuse crews would not be able to return until April 7.

However, both waste from the green and grey bins, along with any side waste produced as a result of the disruption to the service, will be collected on that date.

John Goodyear, acting director of commercial services, said: "The industrial action meant that we only had three crews working on Tuesday, instead of the usual 23. Although we have been doing our best to catch up since then, we understand that some of the unions have advised members not to work Saturday, so, again, we will only have a limited number of crews available.

Dave Bonner, of Unison, said: "These claims are totally inaccurate. There was a meeting where members voted not to play catch-up on the basis that it would defeat the object (of industrial action).

"It was members who voted. It was not our instruction. We are instructed by our members."

Updated: 08:42 Saturday, April 01, 2006