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Sanitation workers threaten strike

Thursday, Jan. 19, 2006

Nearly 100 Waste Management employees claim that the $13 billion Texas company wants to reduce their wages and eliminate their pension plan.

Union officials said this week that if Waste Management does not back off its stance and submit a new contract proposal, then the employees, working from the Temple Hills branch, could go on strike.

‘‘We went in there with good intentions of continuing negotiations, but they aren’t willing to reach an agreement,” said Doug Webber, business representative of Teamsters Local 639, which represents the workers. ‘‘They’re trying to strong-arm us to accepting their terms and suggestions. It just doesn’t make sense.”

Union and Waste Management officials began contract negotiations in mid-October, Webber said.

The employees’ contract expired Nov. 26. And while Webber could not give specifics of the deal on the table, he said that the Houston company gave the employees until Jan. 9. to accept the proposal. Webber met with employees on Monday to discuss the current deal, and they decided to move forward with a public campaign in the meantime.

Company officials offered few details.

Lisa Kardell, a company spokeswoman, issued a statement, saying that Waste Management’s final offer ‘‘provides a wage and benefit package at or above the industry standard in the Washington, D.C., metro area.”

‘‘The company has given the union its last, best and final offer. At this critical juncture, we believe that commenting publicly about the specifics of this offer and the status of the negotiations is not fair to the process, nor would it foster continued good faith negotiations,” Kardell said. ‘‘Although we hope the matter can be resolved amicably and quickly, the company is fully prepared to service our customers with minimal or no interruption.”

The sanitation workers started their public campaign this week, asking residents and civic and political leaders to sign an ‘‘Appeal for Justice,” asking Waste Management to offer a new contract to the employees, union officials said.

The workers — who pick up trash from private residences in Prince George’s County, FedEx Field in Landover, grocery stores, schools and hospitals — say the public campaign is designed to put pressure on Waste Management officials.

But this week’s campaign is not the workers’ first, however; they hand-billed patrons outside FedEx Field during a Washington Redskins’ game in December.

The local actions are part of a national Teamster campaign, involving more than 9,000 Waste Management workers, according to union officials.

Waste Management is the nation’s biggest trash hauler, according to Hoover’s, an online business information service, with 25 million residential and 2 million commercial customers in the United States and Canada. In 2004 it had about 51,000 employees and a profit of $939 million, up 49 percent from the previous year, on sales of $12.5 billion.

However, in the third quarter of 2005, its profit shrank to $215 million from $302 million in the prior-year quarter.