Seattle-area garbage workers go on strike against Waste Management

Seattle-area garbage workers go on strike

SEATTLE — Seattle-area garbage workers represented by Teamsters union Local 174 parked their trucks Wednesday and picked up picket signs calling Waste Management Inc. unfair for refusing to bargain on a new labor contract.

Pickets went up at 10:30 a.m. Wednesday at Waste Management facilities, union spokesman Michael Gonzales said.

The strike affects waste pickup for about 1 million people in King and Snohomish counties.

Seattle Public Utilities said as many as 18,000 residential customers who were expecting a Wednesday pickup didn’t get it.

At a news conference Wednesday afternoon, Gonzales said there was a contract proposal on the table but the company has been unwilling to negotiate the details. For example, the company offered garbage haulers a $1,000 bonus, but the union wanted to have a say in how that money would be spent.

“They tried to shove it down our throats,” said Gonzales, a spokesman for Teamsters Local 174.

Waste Management has said it will continue service with nonunion employees. It has prepared to hire new drivers and said it received 1,600 online applications.

Recycling drivers represented by Teamsters Local 117 are honoring the strike, Gonzales said. Together, he said, about 700 workers are on strike.

Some full trucks also were stopped from dumping their contents at transfer stations by union members honoring picket lines. Teamsters members who work at King County’s transfer stations have the right to honor the garbage haulers picket lines, said Doug Williams, spokesman for King County Solid Waste.

The strike was threatened when the workers’ contract expired at the end of March. The company made its “best, last, final” offer April 1, but workers stayed on the job expecting negotiations to continue.

“In spite of our best efforts, Waste Management is refusing to come back to the table to bargain in good faith,” Local 174 Secretary-Treasurer Rick Hicks said in a statement. “We are taking a measured action to persuade Waste Management to correct its illegal acts and to minimize the impact on the public.”

Waste Management is responsible for about half of the solid waste customers in the city of Seattle.

“The city of Seattle is not part of the negotiations between Waste Management and the Teamsters; however, we are disappointed that the two parties were not able to reach an agreement and hope they continue good-faith negotiations toward a speedy and successful outcome,” said Ray Hoffman, acting director of Seattle Public Utilities.

Waste Management said it has offered a five-year contract with wage, pension and health benefits that would be worth nearly $110,000 annually to each worker in the final year.

The union has said it is fighting to protect health care for sanitation workers. Teamsters also complain the company is trying to change contract language.

“People don’t realize it’s the fifth most dangerous job in the country,” Gonzales said. He talked about drivers who have been stuck by needles, exposed to rotting meat, or scratched by rats. “Health care is important to us, for a reason.”

On the Net:

Waste Management Northwest Region: wmnorthwest.com

Teamsters Local 174: www.teamsters174.org