UPDATE: September 5, 2019: Members of Teamsters Local 25 continue to strike against a Republic Services location in Marshfield, Massachusetts. While the company has brought in non-union labor to continue service, The Patriot Ledger reports an estimated 5,000 residential vehicles have come to drop off their waste and recycling at Marshfield's transfer station instead.
Republic successfully obtained injunctive relief in county court over certain picketing activities earlier this week. According to the company, the Teamsters have now agreed to refrain from blocking, endangering, threatening or interfering with the company's employees, vehicles, equipment or property.
"Republic Services respects our employees' right to collective bargaining and will continue to work toward a fair contract," said a spokesperson for Republic Services of Marshfield in a statement.
As of today, Teamsters Local 350 also started a picket line outside a Republic site in San Jose, California in solidarity.
"Greedy, cynical companies like Republic have to learn that when they take on the Teamsters in one city, they're taking on the entire Teamster union," said Local 25 President Sean O'Brien in a statement.
Dive Brief:
- Two dozen Republic Services employees in Massachusetts have been on strike since Thursday, as reported by Wicked Local, WATD and others.
- The Marshfield-based workers, who have organized with Teamsters Local 25, say the terms being negotiated in their first contract aren't comparable to benefits for Republic employees in other area locations. "We work at the same company as them but they have better healthcare, wages and a pension," Michael DeVito told The Patriot Ledger.
- Republic has been working to service three affected municipalities as the strike enters its sixth day. "We are committed to taking care of our customers and plan to resume collections in the morning as long as it is safe to do so," said the company in a statement.
Dive Insight:
Following its 1 a.m. launch on Thursday, Local 25 has seen support from a range of sources. Sen. Ed Markey (up for re-election) and Rep. Joe Kennedy III (a possible primary challenger) showed up over the weekend to emphasize their support.
The three towns affected by this strike have appeared to remain neutral in the process as they work to adapt.
Marshfield, the largest of the three, has seen pick-up delays and reports that Republic will "attempt" to resume some level of service this week. After partial collection last week, Rockland reported that full service will resume this week. Abington reported service resuming over the weekend.
It is unclear where the new workers are coming from or how costly this back-up plan may be for Republic if the strike drags on.
This is the latest in a series of interactions between the Teamsters and Republic this year. In June, Atlanta workers organized a "practice strike" over a contract dispute. In July, Teamsters in Tennessee filed a discrimination complaint with the EEOC against Republic.
An estimated 24% of Republic's workforce was unionized through the end of 2018, according to the company's latest annual report. This remains higher than other publicly-traded companies in the U.S. waste industry, as well as the national average across all sectors.
