Republic Services trash collectors strike ends in Massachusetts after 2-and-a-half months
The Republic Services trash collectors' strike that disrupted service in more than a dozen Massachusetts communities for two-and-a-half months is over.
The company and the union announced Friday that they had reached a new five-year deal. Exact details have not been released, but Teamsters 25 Local said in a statement that the contract "improves wages, dental, audiology, and vision benefits, and many other terms of employment." Local 25 President expressed that it was an "extremely strong contract."
"We look forward to our employees returning to work on Monday and quickly resuming normal operations," Kurt Lavery, Market Vice President for Republic Services said in a joint statement with the union. "We will work tirelessly to restore our customers' trust."
"We are now ready to return to work and provide the best service possible to Republic's customers," said Local 25 President Mari.
"We appreciate the community's patience during this service interruption and apologize for the inconvenience it has caused. We worked hard to reach a mutual agreement that restores the high-level of service expected by customers in Greater Boston," both sides said in the joint statement.
Governor Maura Healey said that she was glad that the Republic and workers were able to reach a deal.
"This is welcome news for the people and communities served by Republic, and for the sanitation workers who can now return to work with the wages and benefits they deserve," Healey said in a Local 25 statement.
The town of Canton said it was pleased by the news and "looks forward to a return to normal service and thanks residents for their understanding throughout this prolonged disruption."
Massachusetts trash strike
More than 400 trash collectors walked off the job on July 1, leaving 14 cities and towns in Massachusetts without garbage collection. The union wanted better benefits and pay. The strike also impacted businesses in Boston and Newton that had individual contracts with Republic.
Trash went uncollected for nearly 10 days at one restaurant in Allston. Customers with Republic contracts in Newton had to pay $100 to discard their items at the Resource Recovery Center because of the strike.
As garbage piled up and dumpsters overflowed, six cities and towns sued Republic Services to force them to pick up the trash more efficiently during the strike.
Officials, including Governor Maura Healey, called on Republic to end the strike, saying that communities needed trash pickup services as soon as possible. The town of Peabody also wrote a letter to Bill Gates asking the billionaire to help end the strike.
Employees voted to continue the strike on August 3, just weeks before school was set to start in several Massachusetts communities. Officials in Malden were getting increasingly worried as trash was overflowing at Malden High School.
"This is worse than I thought. But when school starts, I don't know. We are not going to have this go on. There are going to be kids with tons of garbage. They're going to be eating lunch here, and they're going to be outside, and this is not safe," City Councilor at large Karen Colon Hayes said.