Vault: New Yorkers make a stink about 1981 garbage strike

NEW YORK (WABC) -- New Yorkers were dreaming of a stink-free Christmas in 1981 as a garbage strike seemed to have no end in sight.

On Dec. 16, on day 16 of the strike, Channel 7 Eyewitness News reporter Tracy Egan made her way around the piles of garbage all over Manhattan, and residents told her they were fed up.

"We certainly can't stand the trash around, and people have to find a place to walk in the street," a woman told Eyewitness News. "This thing is taking up entirely too much room."

Fortunately for everyone involved, the strike was settled the very next day. The resolution of the impasse was presented as an early Christmas gift to the city.

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