Striking garbage drivers brace for showdown over replacements
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SEATTLE - Striking Waste Management truck drivers are bracing for a high-pressure face-off as their employer brings in more non-union replacements to pick up trash.
Caught in the middle of it all are the customers, who are starting to complain about their garbage piling up.
Meanwhile, at Teamsters union headquarters in Tukwila on Sunday, striking workers were making new batches of signs to hand out on the picket lines.
There were a few workers picketing Sunday outside Waste Management buildings, but Monday morning could be when the real confrontation unfolds between what could be hundreds of strikers and hundreds of replacements driving their garbage trucks.
"The company wants us to cave, because we see replacement workers doing our jobs," says union driver Brent Barrett.
It's not a dramatic face-off - so far - but the drivers on the picket line say it's emotional.
"They're trying to take our jobs, that's what it feels like," says Barrett.
The Teamsters say replacement workers are arriving from out of state - so the union is bracing for a tense Monday morning, when they believe as many as 200 or more replacements will head out to pick up trash.
If they do, the pickets will be waiting at the gates to send a message.
"We are unified in our fight and ... we're willing to go to the lengths of standing in front of trucks to get our point across," says Barrett.
Five days into the strike, garbage is starting to stink as it piles up in neighborhoods throughout parts of Snohomish and King counties.
"It doesn't really surprise me. It really adds up quickly," said one Waste Management customer. "I know another friend of mine is complaining about it."
The lack of service is starting to annoy people.
Waste Management still advises customers to keep putting out their trash and recycling, but the company will not say whether its replacement workers will start residential pickup tomorrow - and if so, in which communities.
Striking drivers made more signs after their strategy meeting Sunday afternoon at union headquarters. Leaders say they're ready to resume talks - but it takes two to pound out a contract.
"We'll stand down while bargaining is happening, and if good faith bargaining is occurring, we will stop the strike and go back to work to get the deal done," says Teamsters representative Brenda Weist.
But Waste Management's position has been that striking drivers must return to work before the company will resume negotiations.
Right now, no new talks are scheduled.
Caught in the middle of it all are the customers, who are starting to complain about their garbage piling up.
Meanwhile, at Teamsters union headquarters in Tukwila on Sunday, striking workers were making new batches of signs to hand out on the picket lines.
There were a few workers picketing Sunday outside Waste Management buildings, but Monday morning could be when the real confrontation unfolds between what could be hundreds of strikers and hundreds of replacements driving their garbage trucks.
"The company wants us to cave, because we see replacement workers doing our jobs," says union driver Brent Barrett.
It's not a dramatic face-off - so far - but the drivers on the picket line say it's emotional.
"They're trying to take our jobs, that's what it feels like," says Barrett.
The Teamsters say replacement workers are arriving from out of state - so the union is bracing for a tense Monday morning, when they believe as many as 200 or more replacements will head out to pick up trash.
If they do, the pickets will be waiting at the gates to send a message.
"We are unified in our fight and ... we're willing to go to the lengths of standing in front of trucks to get our point across," says Barrett.
Five days into the strike, garbage is starting to stink as it piles up in neighborhoods throughout parts of Snohomish and King counties.
"It doesn't really surprise me. It really adds up quickly," said one Waste Management customer. "I know another friend of mine is complaining about it."
The lack of service is starting to annoy people.
Waste Management still advises customers to keep putting out their trash and recycling, but the company will not say whether its replacement workers will start residential pickup tomorrow - and if so, in which communities.
Striking drivers made more signs after their strategy meeting Sunday afternoon at union headquarters. Leaders say they're ready to resume talks - but it takes two to pound out a contract.
"We'll stand down while bargaining is happening, and if good faith bargaining is occurring, we will stop the strike and go back to work to get the deal done," says Teamsters representative Brenda Weist.
But Waste Management's position has been that striking drivers must return to work before the company will resume negotiations.
Right now, no new talks are scheduled.
<a href="http://abcmetalsandrecycling.net">waste management in des moines iowa</a> is credible and reliable for cleanliness.
I'll do their job no problem!
 @Droid Ivan http://jobs.wm.com/job/Seattle-Residential-Recycle-Driver-Job-WA-98101/2047998/?feedId=4&utm_source=Indeed
""They're trying to take our jobs, that's what it feels like," says Barrett."
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Those would be the jobs you walked away from, right?
If the workers dont like their jobs, I guarantee that in these times, their employer will find someone else who will gladly do those jobs (probably for less money). Not a great time to strike.
You know, if I refused to come to work because I was unhappy, I'd be fired. Then they would replace me with someone who would actually appreciate the job. Its a hire/fire at will state. It just amazes me that the unions have this much power and control over businesses.
I love the spin this is getting from both the media and the Teamsters union. I have a friend that is a driver for WM for about 22 year. Every driver, or worker otherwise starts in recycling and works up to the higher paying garbage hauler/ worker. Its called "earning your way up the ladder" not just having it handed to you. Too bad the thugs at the Teamsters are forcing gargbage haulers to honor this strike. Shame on them and shame on the recyclers for wanting a 9.00 and hour raise in a recession!
whatever. pro union, anti union - if my stuff isn't picked up i'm not paying my bill.
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when pick up resimes, i'll pay my bill - but not for any of the times missed. simple
It's an employer's market for labor. I'm surprised they don't pick up some replacement drivers at Home Depot.
I looked in the parking lots to see what kind of cars these truckers drive. This is how you tell where to get a high paying job. The vehicles weren't too fancy or new. I'd say that I seriously doubt they get as much pay as some are saying.Â
I wonder how much the SCABS are getting paid. Oops, I mean the replacement drivers AKA SCABS!Â
If these guys really want job security and higher wages, they should find a job where they can't be replaced by someone who can be trained in an afternoon. You pick up garbage. How much $ do you really think you deserve?
Replace them permanently for disorderly conduct against the public.
I heard their jobs are just as dangerous as garbage service. I know the salary is all inclusive of benefits, but 106 police offcers were killed in 2011 and some of these wages are much more than a what they make. 83 Firefighters were killed in 2011 and again, sanitation workers make more. So please don't include how dangerous their jobs are as part of making more money. A lot of jobs are dangerous and I don't see sanitation workers running towards the danger. It would be nice to make as much as the garbage collectors, but public safety folks all over Washington do not make the same money for doing the same dangerous job. There is a lot of disparity in pay with small cities vs larger cities etc. I just cannot see "we do the same job, therefore we should make the same money" as an excuse. The strike is affecting paying customers and making our communities horrible. I don't blame WM, I blame greedy workers. Hire those replacement drivers and clean up the Community.Â
 @tmanch The Police, Firefighter, and Sanitation workers you mentioned above, each chose their careers so your argument is basically stupid. I don't see firefighters or police picking up garbage in these trying times. Why? Because it's not their job, just like it isn't a sanitation workers job to run after criminals or into a burning building.
@Rockberry What are murderers, rapists, robbers etc are???? Garbage that harms the fabric of our lives of being safe. This garbage likes to fight back and likes to kill, mame, and hurt others because they like to. I have not seen garbage fight back, murder, or steal from people.  Sanitation careers are hard workers, I agree, but when they make more than public safety folks, that is my argument.Â
Ok, WM makes lots of money. When wages go up for the employees, it will spread to the consumer. They will make lots of money anyway you look at it.  Its the consumer that suffers by higher rates. Â
Forgot to mention, sanitation workers also chose their careers.....
I must be tired....you make no sense.
That was for rockberry.....
So your argument is that if a person chooses their line of work they do not need to be compensated fully? Clarify
LETS SEE THE ECONOMY SUCKS SO IM GOING TO STEP AWAY FROM MY JOB TO HOLD A SIGN....HMMMMM
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INTERESTING TACTIC.
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Bad timing. If you don't go back to work, they're going to bust the union. Live to fight another day....when the economy is better and you can garner some public sympathy.
bagsofdirt, I think you are actually right, and I think WM knows it too. I wish the stupid unions weren't so greedy, especially in a recession.
Correction to the ignorant:
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Recycle drivers bring home about $2400.oo to $3200.00 per month plus benefits.
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Its the 7th most dangerous job; do your research.
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Not all trucks are sit and push buttons all day; many are stand on one leg all; and get outt 600 to 900 times per day to haul the can over to the truck where the truck THEN lifts the can.
 @My humble "two cents" Most Waste Management and Garbage companies in general do not lift a can anymore.  600 to 900 times a day is a complete exaggeration.
 @Baffled by people  @My humble It's doesn't even matter. They act like they are entitled to those jobs. The company can pay whatever they want. If the employees feel that their "skills" are being undervalued, they can go someplace else. It's as simple as that.
 @oakie No input or valid arguments.... fall back to spelling and grammar issues. Typical.
 @Adam Costello you really shouldn't attempt to insult someone's intelligence when you're not even smart enough to know the difference between "your" and "you're" or think "company's" is the proper way to pluralize "company."
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clearly you're either a child or uneducated. either way, you're trolling shallow waters so i hope you're not exactly proud of yourself for getting a rise out of these commenters. basing your poor grammar and spelling as a direct reflection of your intelligence, you're obviously a member of the "unskilled workforce," and therefore clearly trolling.
So, no information to add? Just pointless chirping to be heard. You tire me with your inane babble. Read over all your past posts and see how many are vacuous statements that add nothing to any debate. You are clearly a "Yesman," or possibly a "Yeswoman." I bet you also buy insipidly colored Hallmark cards with puppies on them and little prayers inside.
 @Adam CostelloÂ
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".... Think before you type. Better yet, just keep quiet and stop embarrassing yourself ...."
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Perhaps you could do the same & spare us all?
 @Adam Costello The company can't pay whatever they want! You obviously have no clue as to what exactly a union is. You must be young. If the company could pay what they wanted, they would currently be paying minimum wage.
 @My humble "two cents" Another thing the ignorant fail to realize. When they (WM) says $98k TOTAL PACKAGE they're also including the hefty WA. state L&I insurance payment per employee which is right around $6 an hour. That's $12,480 a year that the employee never sees. Of course the corporation is going to factor in everything possible to give the media the largest number possible to repeat over and over so that the ignorant folks will only hear that number and repeat it themselves.
 @Rockberry  @My humble Don't like it, find a new job.
 @Adam Costello People like you say these delightful words to retail workers too. Bet you'd pitch a big fit if you couldn't get service at a store too. Please get over yourself already.
@Adam Costello You're basically saying that the company can do whatever it wants? Too bad you're wrong and companies can't do whatever they want.  Just like employees can't do whatever they want all the time. That all changed about 100 years ago. Employees and companies will never go back to the early days of the Industrial Revolution because neither wants to there because it makes no sense in todays world. You're free to go there though.Â
 @Adam Costello You're the one with the problem. I am for the strike. This corporation is taking home a billion a year in PROFITS! I don't think it would hurt them to pay all their drivers equally. If only other huge corporations would share the profits a little more and more folks had a good living wage. Why do you love corporations so much?
 @My humble "two cents" Wah wah. Cry me a river. It's still unskilled labor. Go back to work or be prepared to lose your job to someone else.
Looks like 74bigdawg is possibly interested in hit and run. Ron Smith might have a propensity for sabbotage. Vertically Inclined a potential arsonist? And you talk of union violence. Can't we all just get along.
 @onewhoknows Never said that. Of course the replacement driver would get out and make sure the man willing to stand in front of his truck was ok and render first aid if needed.
@74Bigdawg @onewhoknows Move along bigdawg. This is a loser for you.
I am lighting the recycled on fire tomorrow night. Â Anyone want to come over? Â Smores on us!Â
...saw the report on KING 5....petulant childish gimmeee the world on a silver platter I wanna make $150 a year for dumping trash workers walking like teenagers at .000000001 mph across the entry way to WM so I can hinder replacement workers.
Get your ***** back to work!!! Your GED to dump my cans has an industry average of 40k per year...so cry my the proverbial river cause you can't make more than the 95K offered.
No more violence from management. Send the replacement workers home and bargain in good faith.
 @onewhoknows Violence?  Uhm, where?   Overstating one's plight quickly leads to chicken little syndrome.  That is to say, we (the public) don't believe your bs.    Consider getting back to work, we like the work you do, not your attitude.
No violence, damn it. I generally support Unions but any violence will cause me to turn my back in a second.
 @HagarÂ
There has been no violence, and not any threats of it either. People on here are throwing out the Longshoremen down in Longview as a comparison, when it is not even the same union or the same issues. They apparently cannot think & reason for themselves - they have been brainwashed to think "unions are bad, union are violent thugs" - all while reaping the reqeards that unionization has brought them (40 hour work week, minimum wage, child labor laws, workplace safety, much more). Talk about hypocrits.
For all of you that think that the unions are the reason for the bad economy. You seem to forget about the last president, the banks, mortgage companies these have done more damage than all the unions put together. It's not the people demanding a living wage who are the problem. Those of you who are willing to work for table scraps rather than stand up and fight for youself and your family deserve what you get. And as far as the "thugs" in Longveiw that would be the Longveiw Police Thugs not the Longshoreman. Also those of you that think manual labor is beneath you maybe you should sit in your own garbage for a while. Do you really think pushing paper in an office is a real job? Get over yourselves ! And to the drivers out everyday working their routes keeping our cities and counties picked up "Thank you". Most of these people making comments here would not be capable to do what you do at all. Â
 @Common sense Bush's fault?
It is a source of constant amazement to me how so many can come out against unions and yet stand piously by cheering the likes of romney who oh so happily has sent thousands of jobs offshore, stripping American workers of their livelihoods and futures so he could destroy companies and rake in the billions he got for doing so, pay virtually NO taxes, and stuff billions in offshore tax havens. Â
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American workers are making less statistically than they ever have, compared to CEO's and major corporations the middle class is going BACKWARDS AND FAST.
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You should be cheering for unions, supporting them with your last breath, thanking them for your weekends, your health care, your pensions, your 40-hour weeks, your sick leave, your vacations. Because I guarantee you, if the unions fail, you might as well be working in China - you will have nothing - zip, zero, nada. Â You will have exactly what the corporations want to give you - Wal-Mart for instance, now there's a great example of exactly what corporate America wants to give you. Â Why the hell do you think so many millions of American jobs have been sent to China? Â NO UNIONS!
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How incredibly stupid do you have to be to not see what is happening here? Â Do ALL get ALL your "information" from fox news, are you that naive that you don't realize you're being played?
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Yep, you are.
 @comdown THIS. A THOUSAND TIMES THIS. How DARE workers demand fair compensation!
 @comdown LOL. If someone is willing to do the work for cheaper, that is where a business is going to go. Unions make it so American companies can't afford to keep jobs in America. Your little speech was cute. But not at all based in reality.
 @Adam Costello  @comdown Anyone will do a job for minimum wage, or even just a bag of crack. Does that mean that is fair, livable, or good for the economy? I don't know what you do, but I'm sure someone would do it for half as much. After all, isn't everyone complaining that the workers are ungrateful?
 @comdown Unions are basically protecting the employees from the employers from screwing them over.  I am for Unions in that nature.
 @comdown If I could give you a thousand thumbs-up.. I would.
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Well-said.
 @Poisonous GiraffeÂ
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I will give the second thousand TU's!
 @LocalLady I'll be the third.