As garbage ripens, Waste Management locks out 500 workers

Waste Management hired 200 “replacement workers” to pick up garbage, but put collections of yard waste and recycling on hold.

A July 9 session with a federal mediator was described by both sides as unproductive, and at press time, no further talks were scheduled.

Among key issues are the company’s efforts to shift a larger share of health care costs to workers, and to impose new disciplinary measures for safety and health violations. Waste Management is also reportedly demanding a “no strike” clause in the new contract.

“Locking out workers when we’ve pledged to stay on the job during the talks has all the appearances of an attempt to bust the union,” Teamsters Local 70 Secretary-Treasurer Chuck Mack said in a telephone interview. “They are basically saying, ‘the public be damned.’ The only way that makes sense is if they want to break the union.”