Trash talk – whose side are you on?

As garbage, recycling and yard
waste piles up in Western Washington’s major cities, the
company responsible for hauling it away says it will
permanently replace the striking drivers.

“Hire new people,” is the suggestion from Justin
Donnelson.

“I’m ready to become a replacement worker,” says Joel
Arbach. “It can’t be as difficult as the construction job
I do part-time and it already pays better.”

Replacement workers are on the way, according to Waste
Management.

The company has been unable to pick up trash for
residents and businesses in Seattle, Auburn, Bremerton,
and at least 20 other cities in the region since July 25.

Waste Management now plans to hire permanent
replacement drivers to take over for all the union drivers
who are on strike.

“Last month we had a recruitment fair and we now are
taking some of the best candidates and screening them for
permanent replacement positions with waste management,”
says WM’s Robin Freedman. “We’re running recruitment ads
all week, so we’ll be looking at a pool of experienced
drivers to come and help us.”

They didn’t say how long it will take to resume normal
service with replacement drivers.

On Wednesday, some residential customers in the Seattle
area will get a pickup for the first time since the
Teamsters strike began a week ago. Waste Management posted a list of all those communities
that should put out their trash.

In the meantime, Seattle Mayor Mike McGinn has ordered
garbage transfer stations in the city to allow residents
to drop off up to six bags of garbage, at no charge,
beginning Wednesday. (Find transfer locations and hours
here)

Waste Management’s contract with Local 117 expired at
the end of May. The union wants to close a gap of about $9
an hour between the pay of its recycling truck drivers and
the garbage truck drivers of Local 174.

Waste Management is offering a six-year deal it says
would raise average salaries from $58,000 to $68,000 a
year. If benefits are included, the offer is worth $98,000
a year to a driver at the end of the sixth year.

Whose side are you on?

“I generally support labor issues when health care or
promised pensions are at stake in the contract talks, but
this is pure greed. The drivers already make a good wage
and they should accept it,” says Joe Millstead, who lives
in Seattle and has two weeks of garbage pile up.

“I am a union worker. It’s never easy to strike, but I
support the workers’ right to bargain for a fair deal,”
says a Boeing machinist who didn’t want to be identified
by name.

“If they want more money, and it seems like that’s all
this is about, why don’t they become garbage truck
drivers?” asks Matt LaCenter. “Garbage haulers work
harder. They have to lift the garbage at least in my area,
whereas the other guys have lifts on their trucks to
handle the larger containers.”

“I think we chose the wrong careers based on what we
saw they make,” says Kathy Hope.

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Story, photos By LINDA THOMAS