Rubbish piles up at Madrid airport as cleaners' strike over layoffs enters 5th day

Passengers and a worker walk past accumulated garbage during a cleaners strike, at Barajas international airport in Madrid, Monday Jan. 28, 2013. Battling to reduce a swollen deficit and avoid a bailout, the year-old conservative government has brought major financial and labor reforms and applied severe cutbacks in wages and spending but so far the economy has shown few signs of recovery. (AP Photo/Paul White) (The Associated Press)

Passengers pass by accumulated garbage during a cleaners strike, at Barajas international airport in Madrid, Monday Jan. 28, 2013. Battling to reduce a swollen deficit and avoid a bailout, the year-old conservative government has brought major financial and labor reforms and applied severe cutbacks in wages and spending but so far the economy has shown few signs of recovery. (AP Photo/Paul White) (The Associated Press)

A passenger walks past accumulated garbage during a cleaners strike, at Barajas international airport in Madrid, Monday Jan. 28, 2013. Battling to reduce a swollen deficit and avoid a bailout, the year-old conservative government has brought major financial and labor reforms and applied severe cutbacks in wages and spending but so far the economy has shown few signs of recovery. (AP Photo/Paul White) (The Associated Press)

Empty bottles, cans and trash are piling up at Madrid's airport as cleaners enter the fifth day of a strike to protest proposed layoffs.

The strike continues to affect terminals 1, 2 and 3 on Tuesday, a day after a similar strike at Terminal 4, the airport's main terminal, was suspended after one day.

The strike is made worse by the fact that the airport has very few trash containers for the public to use.

The cleaners are protesting plans by their cleaning company to lay off 54 out of 270 workers at the airport.