LA Trashy Thanks to Ongoing Sanitation Sickout

Trash pick-up service in Los Angeles will again be delayed today, with about a fifth of sanitation drivers not showing up for work, city officials said.

The Los Angeles Bureau of Sanitation reported yesterday that only about 40 percent of the city’s 500 sanitation workers reported for duty.

That number rose to about 80 percent today, the bureau said.

Sanitation officials issued a statement saying the remaining workers will continue to focus on picking up black waste bins containing solid waste.

“It is our intent to get caught up” on picking up other bins for recyclable and green waste by Saturday evening, the statement said.

Residents are being asked to leave out their bins until they have been collected, and bulky item pickups also are being rescheduled, officials said.

SEIU Local 721 spokeswoman Coral Itzcalli, spokeswoman for the SEIU Local 721 that represents the sanitation employees, said the trash driver work stoppage is “not a union-sanctioned activity.”

The union represents about 10,000 Los Angeles city workers, including trash truck drivers, tree-trimmers, street repair crews.

Its members began voting on Tuesday night to decide whether they will go on strike, Itzcalli said, but she declined to say when the voting would be completed.

‘Workers are extremely frustrated because of the lack of movement at the bargaining table,” Itzcalli told City News Service on Wednesday. “They’re hopeful that the mayor and the City Council will find the courage and leadership to take on Wall Street and avert a work stoppage.”

Mayor Eric Garcetti criticized the sanitation workers’ action on Wednesday, saying that “the (negotiating) table is the best place to resolve any grievances you have.”

The workers’ job action affected trash pick-up service. Sanitation Bureau Director Enrique Zaldivar asked residents on Wednesday to leave out their trash bins until the end of the day as the remaining drivers may need until about 7 p.m. to complete trash pick-up.

Scott Mann, a spokesman for the Coalition of L.A. City Unions, which bargains on behalf of the union, said today he was not “not aware of any action,” and if there was, “it’s not coalition-related.”

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