Waste Management garbage haulers plan to end their strike at midnight and return to work Friday, Teamsters Local 174 officials announced Thursday afternoon.
The union members said they wanted to “prevent a public health crisis and to minimize service disruptions to area businesses and residents,” according to the union Web site.
The garbage drivers struck Waste Management Wednesday morning, set up pickets and did not work on Thursday. Waste Management did not collect garbage or recyclables on Thursday.
Waste Management serves about 1,300 commercial customers and 135 multi-family (condos, apartments) customers in Kent. The company serves nearly one million customers in King and Snohomish counties.
Single-family homes in Kent are served by Allied Waste, whose drivers agreed to a new contract and did not strike. Allied Waste serves the city’s nearly 16,200 single-family homes.
“The public comes first,” said Ewart Grove Jr., a 25-year Waste Management employee. “We won’t stand by and let Waste Management break federal labor laws, but we also won’t let this company hold our community hostage to its illegal actions.”
There was no word yet on when talks might resume between the union and Waste Management officials about the contract dispute. Talks broke off April 6 and no further talks had been scheduled. The drivers have been working without a contract since April 1.
Union representatives expect sanitation workers to resume normal operations Friday morning to catch up on the backlog created by Thursday’s work stoppage.
“We are trying to persuade Waste Management to stop bargaining in bad faith,” said Rick Hicks, secretary-treasurer of Local 174.
For more information, go to the union Web site at www.seattletrashwatch.com or the Waste Management site at www.wmnorthwest.com.
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