Trash workers end their strike

Thursday, April 20, 2006

Waste Management workers went back to work this week, ending a two-week strike over a labor contract.

Employees, who claimed the privately held trash-hauler wanted to reduce wages and replace their pension plan with a 401(k) without company contributions, celebrated a small victory this week, holding onto their pension plan.

‘‘The big win is that we fought back their attempts to cut the pension,” said Leigh Strope, a spokeswoman for Teamsters Local 639, which represents 8,500 Waste Management employees nationwide.

The company — with a regional branch in Temple Hills that covers Prince George’s County and Washington, D.C. — and union officials agreed on the new three-year contract on Saturday, and employees returned to work Monday, said Lisa Kardell, a Waste Management spokeswoman. The employees had worked without a contract for four months; contract negotiations began in October, said Rudolph Dixon, a union representative.

Employees will retain their pension plan under the new deal, with the company continuing its current contribution level for the next two years, and making a small increase in the third year, Strope said. Also, the union agreed to forgo wage increases for one year. Kardell would not disclose how much the company pays.

During the two-week work stoppage, Waste Management brought in 60 replacement drivers to work and there was ‘‘minimal disruption,” according to Kardell.

‘‘Waste Management is happy that the matter is resolved,” Kardell said.

Waste Management has about 38,000 residential and 4,700 commercial customers in Prince George’s and Washington. About 140,000 county residences rely on municipal county trash services.

Waste Management posted $13.1 billion in revenue last year, a 4.8 percent increase from $12.5 billion in 2004. Net income was $1.2 billion, up 25.9 percent from $939 million in 2004.

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 customers in the United States and Canada.

E-mail Marcus Moore at mmoore@gazette.net.