Trash, gripes pile up as strike enters second week

MOUNTLAKE TERRACE — Emile Major has been waiting a week for workers to empty the trash bins outside his home on 56th Avenue W., near the Evergreen Playfield Complex.

The 70-year-old’s curb is a front line, of sorts, for more than 200,000 garbage customers in Snohomish and King counties coping with an ongoing garbage strike.

When Waste Management drivers took to the picket lines last week, Major’s house, like others in Mountlake Terrace, was among the first collections missed. If the company is unable to scramble workers to his route today, he’ll be heading into a second week without service.

“I’m just going to start putting it out there and leaving it there until they come to pick it up,” said Major, who’s also considering refusing to pay his trash bills. “I’m not going to haul them back and forth. You think I’m going to put my stuff out every day? To hell with that.”

City workers disrupted his plan last week when they moved his bins and others on the street back from the curb for an annual parade. He said he moved them right back, even though his city and others only allow people to have their bins out on collection days.

On Tuesday, few signs of progress emerged in the week-old strike, despite a weekend attempt by the union for garbage and recycling drivers to jumpstart talks through a mediator.

The strike began on the morning of July 25, when about 150 drivers from that union, Teamsters Local 117, took to the picket lines over the failure to bargain a new six-year contract with Waste Management. Their old contract expired May 31. They were soon joined on the picket lines by about 350 garbage drivers from Teamsters Local 174, who serve the same areas.

In Snohomish County, affected routes include Arlington, Granite Falls, Mill Creek, Mountlake Terrace, parts of Marysville, Mukilteo and large parts of unincorporated Snohomish County.

Customers of Allied Waste Services and Rubatino Refuse Removal are not affected.

On Tuesday, the service disruptions extended to Skagit County, when about 35 garbage, yard-waste and recycling drivers at a Burlington facility joined the picket line. The Burlington facility also serves north Snohomish County.

Waste Management is offering Local 117 members a six-year deal it says would raise average salaries from $58,000 to $68,000 a year. Including benefits the offer is worth $98,000 a year to a driver at the end of the sixth year, the company said.

Waste Management reported bringing in substitute drivers over the weekend and planned to focus on commercial routes, including restaurants. The company also began running recruitment ads and said it was hiring candidates from a recent job fair.

On Tuesday, fill-in drivers hadn’t reached many local residential neighborhoods, including the Silver Firs east of Mill Creek. There, numerous overflowing trash and recycling bins sat outside driveways.

One father of three from the neighborhood said that so far, the accumulating diapers and other trash at his house have only been “sort of a nuisance.”

“They were supposed to come this past Friday, so it’s just been a couple of days, but it’s still kind of bothersome,” said Brad Jackson, 35.

Jackson did worry, however, about getting charged for extra bags during his next scheduled pickup. Waste Management has promised to haul away a double amount free of charge on the next collection day.

Mill Creek city staff on Tuesday were fielding new trash-related calls every hour, interim city manager Tom Gathmann said. The most common complaint wasn’t the piled trash, but people being told by Waste Management that they would have to pay for trash pickups they don’t receive.

“That made some of them very, very mad,” he said.

For residential garbage customers in Mountlake Terrace, Wednesday will be a “watershed moment,” city manager John Caulfield said. Only about a quarter of city homes received trash pickup before the strike began a week ago. If things go on much longer, the city would like to see Waste Management set up two staffed collection bins for city residents.

Mountlake Terrace and some other local cities also have the ability to levy fines against Waste Management for missed trash pickups. In unincorporated areas, the state has that authority, though it’s too early to talk about whether it’s likely to fine Waste Management, said Washington Utilities and Transportation Commission spokeswoman Amanda Maxwell said.

“The commission will look at the company’s operating record when the strike is over and take it from there,” Maxwell said.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Noah Haglund: 425-339-3465, nhaglund@heraldnet.com.

Updates

Waste Management encourages people to check for service updates at www.wmnorthwest.com or call 800-592-9995.

Teamsters Local 117 says people and businesses can go to www.seattletrashwatch.org for updates and call 800-230-7418 to report yard waste, recycling or garbage service disruptions.

Talk to us

> Give us your news tips.

> Send us a letter to the editor.

> More Herald contact information.

More in Local News

A firefighter stands in silence before a panel bearing the names of L. John Regelbrugge and Kris Regelbrugge during the ten-year remembrance of the Oso landslide on Friday, March 22, 2024, at the Oso Landslide Memorial in Oso, Washington. (Ryan Berry / The Herald)
‘Flood of emotions’ as Oso Landslide Memorial opens on 10th anniversary

Friends, family and first responders held a moment of silence at 10:37 a.m. at the new 2-acre memorial off Highway 530.

Julie Petersen poses for a photo with images of her sister Christina Jefferds and Jefferds’ grand daughter Sanoah Violet Huestis next to a memorial for Sanoah at her home on March 20, 2024 in Arlington, Washington. Peterson wears her sister’s favorite color and one of her bangles. (Annie Barker / The Herald)
‘It just all came down’: An oral history of the Oso mudslide

Ten years later, The Daily Herald spoke with dozens of people — first responders, family, survivors — touched by the deadliest slide in U.S. history.

Victims of the Oso mudslide on March 22, 2014. (Courtesy photos)
Remembering the 43 lives lost in the Oso mudslide

The slide wiped out a neighborhood along Highway 530 in 2014. “Even though you feel like you’re alone in your grief, you’re really not.”

Director Lucia Schmit, right, and Deputy Director Dara Salmon inside the Snohomish County Department of Emergency Management on Friday, March 8, 2024, in Everett, Washington. (Ryan Berry / The Herald)
How Oso slide changed local emergency response ‘on virtually every level’

“In a decade, we have just really, really advanced,” through hard-earned lessons applied to the pandemic, floods and opioids.

Ron and Gail Thompson at their home on Monday, March 4, 2024 in Oso, Washington. (Olivia Vanni / The Herald)
In shadow of scarred Oso hillside, mudslide’s wounds still feel fresh

Locals reflected on living with grief and finding meaning in the wake of a catastrophe “nothing like you can ever imagine” in 2014.

The view of Mountain Loop Mine out the window of a second floor classroom at Fairmount Elementary on Wednesday, Jan. 10, 2024 in Everett, Washington. (Olivia Vanni / The Herald)
County: Everett mining yard violated order to halt work next to school

At least 10 reports accused OMA Construction of violating a stop-work order next to Fairmount Elementary. A judge will hear the case.

Imagine Children's Museum's incoming CEO, Elizabeth "Elee" Wood. (Photo provided by Imagine Children's Museum)
Imagine Children’s Museum in Everett will welcome new CEO in June

Nancy Johnson, who has led Imagine Children’s Museum in Everett for 25 years, will retire in June.

Kelli Littlejohn, who was 11 when her older sister Melissa Lee was murdered, speaks to a group of investigators and deputies to thank them for bringing closure to her family after over 30 years on Thursday, March 28, 2024, at Snohomish County Superior Court in Everett, Washington. (Ryan Berry / The Herald)
‘She can rest in peace’: Jury convicts Bothell man in 1993 killing

Even after police arrested Alan Dean in 2020, it was unclear if he would stand trial. He was convicted Thursday in the murder of Melissa Lee, 15.

Ariel Garcia, 4, was last seen Wednesday morning in an apartment in the 4800 block of Vesper Dr. (Photo provided by Everett Police)
Search underway to find missing Everett child, 4

Ariel Garcia was last seen Wednesday morning at an apartment in the 4800 block of Vesper Drive.

The rezoned property, seen here from the Hillside Vista luxury development, is surrounded on two sides by modern neighborhoods Monday, March 25, 2024, in Lake Stevens, Washington. (Ryan Berry / The Herald)
Despite petition, Lake Stevens OKs rezone for new 96-home development

The change faced resistance from some residents, who worried about the effects of more density in the neighborhood.

Rep. Suzan DelBene, left, introduces Xichitl Torres Small, center, Undersecretary for Rural Development with the U.S. Department of Agriculture during a talk at Thomas Family Farms on Monday, April 3, 2023, in Snohomish, Washington. (Olivia Vanni / The Herald)
Under new federal program, Washingtonians can file taxes for free

At a press conference Wednesday, U.S. Rep. Suzan DelBene called the Direct File program safe, easy and secure.

Former Snohomish County sheriff’s deputy Jeremie Zeller appears in court for sentencing on multiple counts of misdemeanor theft Wednesday, March 27, 2024, at Snohomish County Superior Court in Everett, Washington. (Ryan Berry / The Herald)
Ex-sheriff’s deputy sentenced to 1 week of jail time for hardware theft

Jeremie Zeller, 47, stole merchandise from Home Depot in south Everett, where he worked overtime as a security guard.

Support local journalism

If you value local news, make a gift now to support the trusted journalism you get in The Daily Herald. Donations processed in this system are not tax deductible.