Local contract talks come to halt between Waste Management, Teamsters

Garbage hauler contract talks between Waste Management and Teamsters Local 174 remained stalled Wednesday and no further talks were scheduled.

The more than 350 garbage haulers serve about one million customers throughout King and Snohomish counties. As of Wednesday, the drivers remained on the job. They have been working without a contract since March 31.

Waste Management contracts with the city of Kent to serve about 2,100 commercial customers as well as nearly 270 apartments and condominiums.

“At this point we are weighing all of our options,” said Local 174 spokesman Michael Gonzales, in a phone interview Wednesday.

Gonzales said a strike by the drivers remains an option. Union members voted March 28 to authorize a strike against the company if talks halted and no contract agreement could be reached.

“We will not take that off the table,” Gonzales said.

Waste Management officials said the offer they made to the union on April 1 remains their final offer. Talks broke off between the company and union officials April 6.

“We continue to hope for an uneventful contract-negotiation process,” said Susan Robinson, director of public sector services for Waste Management, in an e-mail April 11 to Kent city officials. “We’ve reached out to our drivers with detailed information about our proposed contract terms to help clarify any confusion that they may have.”

Meanwhile, garbage drivers for Allied Waste voted April 11 to approve a new four-year contract.

Allied Waste contracts with Kent to serve nearly 16,200 single-family homes. The company serves nearly 123,000 residential and commercial customers in King and Snohomish counties.

“This is good news for Allied and our union workers,” said Chris Guimond, general manager of Allied Waste Services of South King County, in an e-mail April 12 to Kent city officials about their new contract. “We are very happy.”

Guimond said 92 percent of the union members voted to approve the new contract.

As far as the union’s dispute with Waste Management, there are about 12 significant modifications to the contract by the company that the union wants to address, Gonzales said.

“We are kind of deciding which way to go but a lot of it is up to Waste Management,” Gonzales said. “They refuse to come to the table to bargain in good faith. If they do that, we can get something done.”

Robinson said the company is ready with replacement workers if the drivers go on strike.

“If the union does choose to strike, our Green Team of Waste Management drivers is on alert,” Robinson said. “We will begin immediately to bring these drivers in from across the country. These drivers are among our best and they work in unique situations such as this, as well as natural disasters requiring an additional work force.”

The contract offer from Waste Management includes a wage increase of $1 per hour in the first year and increases of 40 cents to 50 cents per hour in each year of the five-year contract, Robinson said. The average hourly wage for a driver, she said, is $26.29 per hour or more than $70,000 per year, with an average of six overtime hours per week.

The company also proposes to increase pension contributions from $14,060 per year in 2010 to $15,101 per year by the end of the contract.

Drivers would have to pay increases of $20 per month in health and welfare contributions with a proposed increase to $50 per month from $30 per month.

“We are hopeful for a quiet and productive week at the bargaining table,” Robinson said. “We rely on our drivers to come to work each day to service our collective customers and we hope that they chose to do just that as we work towards a peaceful resolution of our next contract.”

Locals 174 and 117 launched a Web site this week at www.seattletrashwatch.com and a toll-free number at 1-800-976-0071 to give Waste Management garbage customers a place to report service failures in case there is a strike or lockout.

The union claims on the Web site that Waste Management refuses to provide garbage drivers with the same health care protections as other garbage companies in the area.

The impact of a strike by Waste Management drivers would have a minimal impact on Allied Waste operations, Guimond said. He said the one area of concern would be at King County transfer stations.

“We have contingency plans in place to move our vehicles across picket lines if they are set up at those locations,” Guimond said.

Allied Waste, based in Phoenix, Ariz., and Waste Management, based in Houston, Texas, are large, multi-state companies that serve millions of customers nationwide.