A bitter dispute about whether managers deserve their jobs is leaving residents of one of Sydney's largest councils facing no garbage service and closed pools on the eve of summer.
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More than 300,000 residents of Blacktown City Council have been asked to leave their garbage bins out while the council tries to catch up after its supervisors voted to walk off the job on Wednesday.
A year-long dispute about whether council managers have been promoted on merit lies at the heart of the strike action, the union representing workers said.
"Our members are very irate," said United Services Union boss Graeme Kelly. "They believe there's been a [job selection] process that's faulty. There's been positions handed out to a number of employees without a credible process.
"If these matters are not resolved this could well go on."
Mr Kelly said the union had for more than a year queried the suitability of some council managers and was formally seeking to have the council release its reasons for promoting them.
"We will do our utmost to catch up with the collection service when we can," said Blacktown City Council General Manager Kerry Robinson.
The council did not comment on the dispute behind the strike but said it had been the subject of several hearings before the commission already.
"Blacktown City Council is following the commission's recommendations and calls on all other parties to the dispute to do the same," he said.
Two pools, the Blacktown Aquatic Centre and Riverstone Swim Centre, are closed and tree clearing and other inspection services are also affected.
Recycling bins are still being "processed", the council said and its libraries and other facilities were operating as normal.
Only supervisors at the council have formally walked off the job, but employees under them are also affected.
The council has launched action in the Industrial Relations Commission on Wednesday, which could force striking workers back on the job.
Council union workers will meet on Thursday to vote on their next move.
Blacktown has long been the city's largest council by population and remains one of its largest, but it has been eclipsed by the state government's merger process.
The council's garbage workers previously made a show of "blockading" broadcaster SBS in protest of its depiction of the suburb in the show Struggle Street.
That action came with support from the council's mayor, Stephen Bali. Cr Bali did not immediately return a phone call on Wednesday.
