Garbage hauler contract talks between Waste Management and Teamsters Local 174 broke off Tuesday and no further talks were scheduled.
“None at this point,” said Local 174 spokesman Michael Gonzales in a phone interview Wednesday about whether any more meetings with Waste Management were planned.
The nearly 350 garbage haulers serve nearly one million customers throughout King and Snohomish counties remained on the job Wednesday. They have been working without a contract since April 1.
Waste Management contracts with the city of Kent to serve about 2,100 commercial customers as well as nearly 270 apartments and condominiums.
Meanwhile, garbage drivers for Allied Waste are scheduled to vote Sunday on whether to approve a new contract. The union and Allied Waste reached a tentative settlement March 31 on a new contract.
Allied Waste contracts with Kent to serve nearly 16,200 single-family homes. The company serves nearly 123,000 residential and commercial customers in King and Snohomish counties.
A Waste Management official said in an e-mail Wednesday to city of Kent officials that the company again presented the union with its, “last, best and final” offer on Tuesday. The company presented the same offer to the union on April 1.
“We are hopeful that the union will not strike,” said Susan Robinson, director of public sector services for Waste Management, in an e-mail to Kent officials.
Gonzales said he would not comment on whether the garbage haulers plan to strike. Union members voted March 28 to authorize a strike against the company if talks halted and no contract agreement could be reached.
“They came in blew us off and said their offer is what it is,” Gonzales said about the breakdown in talks with Waste Management.
The final offer presented by Waste Management includes a wage increase of $1 per hour in the first year from the current $26.29 per hour – a 3.7 percent increase.
But Gonzales said there are about 12 significant modifications to the contract by Waste Management that the union wants to address.
Waste Management has said it has replacement drivers ready to step in if the union does strike or if the company decides to lockout the current drivers.
Allied Waste, based in Phoenix, Ariz., and Waste Management, based in Houston, Texas, are large, multi-state companies that serve millions of customers nationwide.
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