Garbage haulers continue to pick up trash even though no contract has been reached.
Waste Management Northwest and the workers in Snohomish and King counties have been at odds since the labor contract expired last Wednesday. Waste Management made what it termed its last offer late Thursday.
“We are holding firm to our last, best offer,” Waste Management spokeswoman Jackie Lang said Monday. “This is a premium offer. It’s hard to understand why union leaders wouldn’t give employees an opportunity to vote on it.”
Waste Management picks up trash at about 75,000 homes in Snohomish County. The company ran a full-page advertisement titled “A Letter to Our Teamsters Local 174 Drivers” in the Saturday edition of The Herald.
The ad outlined highlights of the latest offer, including a $1 per hour pay raise in the contract’s first year plus smaller increases in subsequent years.
“It’s a cheap bargaining tactic,” Teamsters Union Local 174 President Michael Gonzales said Monday. “It doesn’t help the bargaining process.”
Waste Management garbage haulers won’t form picket lines as long as the two sides bargain in good faith, Gonzales said.
“Our plan is to service the communities of King and Snohomish counties until further notice,” he said.
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.
Garbage haulers for Waste Management are upset about rising health-care premiums and proposals to cut wages and fund retirement benefits.
The latest Waste Management offer included what Gonzales said were 12 significant modifications union leaders hadn’t seen before.
“They just dropped them at the last minute,” he said. “That’s not good-faith bargaining.”
Lang said 1,600 people applied for jobs as garbage haulers. The company had the top 100 candidates go through interviews, driving tests and physical examinations Saturday. Out of that pool, the company selected 50 candidates who “would be equipped and available to step in if needed,” Lang said.
Another trash collector, Allied Waste, was also negotiating with Teamsters last week. The two sides reached a deal on Wednesday.
Oscar Halpert: 425-339-3429, ohalpert@heraldnet.com.
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