Strike By Republic Services Waste Management Workers Enters 6th Day

By Chris Jennewein, Times of San Diego

December 22, 2021

Garbage is reportedly piling up at some apartments across San Diego County as a strike by Republic Services sanitation workers entered its sixth day.

The strike by 250 workers represented by Teamsters Local 542 began at four Republic Services facilities across the county on Friday.

Members of the local voted to authorize a strike on Dec. 13 after their contract expired at the end of November.

“We don’t want to be out here going back and forth with the company when we should be out there servicing our customers. They depend on us to pick up their trash, and that’s what we want to do. But we can’t do that if we don’t have a contract — a fair contract,” said Laderer Hampton, a driver at Republic Services.

Chuck Stiles, director of the Teamsters’ solid waste and recycling division, said the company gave the union “no choice but to go on strike.”

“We ask that the company respect workers’ rights, make sure they are safe during the pandemic and are operating safe equipment, and pay them a fair return on their work,” he said.

Republic Services is the second-largest trash collection, disposal and landfill corporation in the United States with facilities in over 40 states.

Workers in Anaheim and Huntington Beach ended a seven-day strike earlier this month after ratifying a new agreement.

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