Garbage haulers for Waste Management plan to come to work today, even though their union has not agreed on a labor contract as of late Thursday evening and Waste Management says it has made its final offer.
“We are trying to reach a settlement without a labor dispute,” Michael Gonzales, spokesman for Teamsters Local 174, said Thursday.
Garbage haulers who work for Waste Management won’t start forming picket lines as long as officials from Waste Management continue to negotiate in good faith, Gonzales said.
Waste Management officials said late Thursday evening they had delivered their best and final contract offer to Teamsters Local 174. The offer included a $1,000 bonus per employee if the contract was ratified by Saturday. Company officials called the offer generous.
“We know this because we have received more than 1,500 job applications in the last three days,” said Jackie Lang, spokeswoman for the company.
The union hadn’t seen the offer or had a chance to analyze it, Gonzales said late Thursday.
Waste Management serves customers in parts of unincorporated Snohomish County as well as Arlington, Marysville, Mill Creek, Mountlake Terrace, Lynnwood, Brier, Mukilteo and parts of south Everett.
The company is posting information on its Web site at www.wmnorthwest.com for customers.
Garbage haulers for Waste Management Northwest are upset about rising health-care premiums and proposals to cut wages to fund retirement benefits.
The contracts for garbage haulers for Waste Management and another company, Allied Waste, ended at midnight Wednesday. Together, the two companies collect trash from 100,000 homes and businesses across Snohomish County, plus thousands more in King County.
Allied Waste was able to reach an agreement with the union as well as another bargaining group, Teamsters Local 117, which represents recycling haulers.
Gonzales wouldn’t disclose the details of that contract, but he said it’s comparable to pay and benefit packages received by employees at Seattle waste management company CleanScapes.
The union is pushing for a similar contract with Waste Management, he said.
“Things are going good now,” Gonzales said. “They’re both at the table and negotiating.”
Waste Management is offering a five-year salary and benefits package that would equal on average $109,553 per employee, Lang said. Workers would be paid a median yearly salary of about $71,000.
Gonzales said the wage estimate is based on mandatory overtime. The top workers he represents earn $54,000 annually without overtime. Most garbage haulers are expected to work more than 40 hours a week, he said.
Lang said Thursday that the contract on the table did not include language that would allow Waste Management to change pay at will without the consent of workers. That’s something union officials suggested was the case earlier this week.
“There’s nothing in our proposals that would allow Waste Management to change employee wages at will,” she said. “It just isn’t there.”
Debra Smith: 425-339-3197, dsmith@heraldnet.com.
Learn more
For the most up-to-date information on a potential garbage hauler strike, go online to www.heraldnet.com. Waste Management also is posting information for customers online at www.wmnorthwest.com.
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