Republic Services Resumes Trash Pickup in Bay Area Following Worker Strike

Regular trash pickup is set to resume Monday in more than a dozen Bay Area cities after Republic Services and its unionized landfill workers struck a deal to end a nearly two-week strike while trash and recycling services were halted.

Gilbert Gomez, a representative for the Teamsters Local 439 in Stockton, said the union’s newly organized three dozen members all voted in favor of their first contract on Sunday morning, which gives them healthcare at about $10 a week for the next five years.

“Overall, it’s a beautiful, nice first-time contract,” Gomez told KQED. “They now have union healthcare. It was a big issue. A lot of guys were paying anywhere from $400 to $1,200 a month for healthcare, so any little raises that the company gave them wasn’t really doing anything.”

Gomez said the contract also clearly spells out policies for day-to-day issues like how seniority is structured and how grievance procedures play out. Final steps remain before the contract is official, but Gomez said members were happy with what Republic Services offered, so all Bay Area employees will be back to normal work on Monday.

“People don’t realize how important garbage really is, but that’s why these landfill guys really, really deserve more, and we got that for them,” he said.

In solidarity with the landfill workers, local Republic Services employees refused to cross the picket line starting on July 8, leaving garbage and recycling bins stagnant on curbs across more than a dozen Bay Area cities.

Some cities stepped up to offer reprieve and to make sure the garbage didn’t end up somewhere else, like public parks and other places where illegal dumping occurs.

On Saturday, near Richmond’s City Hall, city employees wearing yellow hi-viz vests unloaded bags of trash from residents’ cars, tossing them into the bucket of a waiting loader, which dumped them into a big blue Republic Services bin.

Richmond resident Daniel Tyler pulled up in his faded red 1998 Ford Ranger after picking up trash from his neighbors during the second week of the strike. He said the strike hadn’t been much of a problem, considering the city of Richmond provided the containers for free to residents on the weekend.

“That helps a lot. Since I have the truck, I told everybody to get everything together, and I’ll take it across the street. So it’s really a blessing for us,” Tyler said. “Without that, we’d be in pretty bad shape.”

Tyler was happy to hear that the strike was over, thankful to no longer have to make trash runs on the weekend.

“That’s great news,” he said.

Meanwhile, Supervisor John Gioia – who represents Richmond and other parts of west Contra Costa County – said residents deserve to be refunded after the disruption. Saturday, he said that the county had sent Republic Services legal notices to lay the foundation for discounted rates for services that weren’t delivered during the strike.

“Given how long this has gone on and the impact on residents and businesses, we are seeking rate relief … for all customers,” Gioia said.

Supervisors in San Mateo County have made similar demands of Republic Services. Cities like Fairfield, Suisun City, and Daly City are also exploring rate relief options.

Republic Services declined to comment when asked about rate relief, saying via email, “Right now we’re focused on resuming service and will address all non-service related questions once that is complete.”

Both Republic Services and the Teamsters thanked the community for its patience during the strike.

“We will work hard to catch up with needed recycling and waste collection as quickly as we can,” a Republic Services spokesperson said via email.

Republic Services urges people to keep their trash, recycling and green bins at the curb and ready for pickup until the trucks arrive, which may occur on a non-regularly scheduled day.