Waste Management workers threaten strike

Your recycling and yard waste could soon be left on the
curb if local Waste Management workers refuse to vote for
a new contract.

Recycling and yard-waste drivers in King and Snohomish
county have until next Sunday to vote on the company’s
final contract offer, but many workers aren’t too happy
about it.

“They are disciplining people that get injured while
they’re on the job. They’re imposing these productivity
standards that require employees to work unsafely,” says
Tracey Thompson with Teamsters Local 117.

But the company calls the 6-year offer more than fair.

“It included a very fantastic wage and benefit increase,
an average over 4 percent per year,” says Waste
Management’s Robin Freedman about the 6-year offer.

The recycling and yard-waste workers have until next
Sunday to vote on the offer, but the union says it’s not
much different than the previous one.

Freedman says the company has put forward 16 different
proposals during the past 6 months.