San Diego will continue to see mounds of trash until sanitation workers reach an agreement in their negotiations with Republic Services.
Over 250 waste collection employees working for Republic Services organized a strike to address workers concerns including excessive labor and harassment. These workers are members of Teamsters Local 542, and walked out the job on Friday.
According to Republic Services, the strike is affecting the company’s Chula Vista, Newton, Armour Street and Clairemont Mesa locations. Eastgate customers have not been impacted so far.
Republic services is the second largest waste collection company in the country. The strike authorization vote comes as over 400 Republic Service sanitation workers, also members of Local 396, employed in Anaheim and Huntington Beach employed by Republic services ratified two new collective bargaining agreements with the company after a weekl-ong strike.
“I’ve been working with this company for 20 years. The past nine years have been especially hard. Management treats us like trash, and we are tired of it,” said Hilario Fernandez, member of Teamsters Local 542 and Republic Services driver in a statement. “My co-workers feel the same way. We want to serve our community to the best of our ability but can’t do so when we’re fighting for our rights on the job. That’s why we voted to authorize a strike. We were tired of being treated like this, and we knew it was time to do something about it.”
The strikers drew support from San Diego County Supervisor Nora Vargas.
“They have served our communities well and I call on Republic Services to do the right thing this holiday season,” Vargas said in a tweet after standing with workers from Teamsters Local 542.
According to Councilmember Jill Galvez, Republic Services reached out to the city for guidance, and the city will do whatever it can do to help the two to bring an agreement. It is not known when Republic Services plan to meet again for contract negotiations or how long the sanitation workers plan to strike.
Over 30,000 people are employed by Republic Services spanning across 41 states. The company is the second largest provider for waste collection and disposal, transfer and recycling services in the country.
