Recycling Workers Strike Against 'Disrespectful Treatment' by Waste Manegment

About 130 Waste Management recycling employees are striking today against what they call “disrespectful treatment” by the company. Members of International Longshore and Warehouse Union Local 6 held picket lines that started at 4 a.m. at the company’s headquarters at 172 98th Ave. in Oakland and a facility at 2615 Davis St. in San Leandro, union spokesman Craig Merrilees said.

The employees claim the Houston-based company has been “disrespectful and discriminatory” towards recycling employees, a majority of whom are Spanish-speaking immigrants, Merrilees said. On Thursday afternoon, 98 percent of workers voted in favor of the strike, according to Merrilees. While Waste Management truck drivers continue to pick up recyclables today, the materials are not being processed and piling up at the Davis Street facility, Merrilees said.

Workers will continue the picket lines until they have reached an agreement with the company and “no one wants this to go longer than necessary,” Merrilees said. The “disrespectful treatment” shown toward workers has been ongoing for many years on issues including pay, health insurance benefits and safe working conditions, according to Merrilees. The employees are calling for a contract guaranteeing wage increases approved by the Oakland City Council last month, which has been “a source of frustration,” Merrilees said.

Many of the recycling employees are sorters who receive about $12 an hour, and the rates approved by the Oakland City Council would increase a sorters’ rate to almost $21 an hour over the course of five years, Merrilees said. The council also directed the company to provide employees with affordable health insurance, he said.

Waste Management spokesman Joe Camero said the company’s current offer for employees is compliant with the demands from the City Council, which includes raising sorters’ hourly rate be raised to $20.94 by 2019. The workers would receive a pay increase of $1.48 when the new agreement goes into effect, followed by a 50-cent increase on January 1 and a $1.39 increase every July 1 from 2015 to 2018. By 2019, employees’ rates would increase by 89 cents on July 1, 2019, when a sorter’s pay would increase to $20.94, according to Camero. The employees are also being asked to contribute $10 more to their health insurance every July 1 for the next five years until 2019, Camero said.

Currently the employees pay $25 a month and will be asked to pay $35 once an agreement has been reached with the union due to the insurance plan increasing by 4 percent in November, according to Camero. Camero did not know when the next scheduled meeting would take place between the company and the union. Workers are supportive of wage increases in the current proposal, which would increase recycling workers’ rates between 50 cents and $1.39, but they are “skeptical of the company’s sincerity,” citing years of Waste Management not listening to the employees’ demands, Merrilees said. In 2013, Waste Management proposed a 40-cent increase to workers’ hourly rates each year for the following five years, but the union did not agree because they still considered it to be a low rate, according to Merrilees. The strike is also in response to a company manager who used to allow recycling employees to attend union briefings, but disciplined those who participated in one on Thursday, according to Merrilees.

The workers have highlighted multiple worker safety issues they face when processing recyclable materials, some which contain potentially hazardous materials such as asbestos. Today’s strike was “an unsanctioned labor action,” Waste Management spokeswoman Karen Stern said. She said the company has provided workers with every protective measure available and in the event where a hazardous material arrives at the facility, the line can be shut down to properly remove the object. Another sticking point the union has with the proposal is that while employee wages would increase, they would also be contributing more to their health benefits, Merrilees said.

“Throughout the negotiation process, (Waste Management) has been seeking a fair, reasonable and sustainable agreement that includes employee participation in covering a small portion of their health and welfare premiums, just as our employees do under our other Local 6 contracts,” Waste Management spokesman David Tucker said in a statement. “We are committed to ratifying a contract that will keep our employees among the highest compensated in Alameda County and provide a competitive level of benefits, while protecting our ratepayers and franchise cities,” Tucker said.

By Bay City News

Stock photo via Morguefile.