Recycling, yard waste staff threatening strike that may affect hundreds of consumers – KIRO 7 Information Seattle

KING COUNTY, Wash. – Your recycling and garden waste could soon be piling up as a threat to strike looms.

Republic Services employees say they will quit their jobs if the company does not give them the same pay.

130 recycling and gardening workers unanimously voted to allow a strike if they cannot reach an agreement with Republic Services.

Thousands of customers would be affected, many of them on the East Side.

These workers say they want the same salary as garbage collectors. They say they do the same job but they get paid less.

Now they are threatening to stop working and to let those trucks idle if the company is unwilling to pay them right away.

“I mean, we do all the work,” said Margarito Gonzalez. “If we don’t pick up a can, nobody gets paid. Is that what the company wants? “

Gonzalez has been in the plumbing field for nearly 50 years. Almost two-thirds of that time for Republic Services. Its commercial pickup route is north and west from downtown Seattle.

He says his customers know him.

“Oh, absolutely,” said Gonzalez. “I have a good relationship with our customers.”

When the republic lost a contract in 2009, he had to switch from garbage collection to recycling and cut his wages.

He and his fellow passengers voted for a strike if they don’t get what he calls a decent contract.

“One that matches the contract that the other workers in the industry who do the same job as us,” said Gonzalez. “Absolutely. Absolutely.”

It was a much happier story for rival Waste Management. Immediately after the republic’s unanimous vote approving the strike, the garbage and gardeners voted unanimously to accept a new five-year contract.

“Waste Management was ready to negotiate at the table,” said Brent Barrett, Teamsters Local 117 shop steward. “They came ready.”

The Teamsters say the vote on the strike permission for Republic Services workers was due to unequal pay.

“We’re talking hundreds (of dollars) worth every month,” said John Scearcy, secretary and treasurer of Teamsters Local 117.

He says the workers believe they should be paid fairly.

“I don’t think two people should work side by side, with the same qualifications, job expectations, and both paid less than each other,” Scearcy said.

For its part, Republic Services declares that it respects its employees’ right to collective bargaining and will continue to negotiate in good faith.

Talks between the two sides will continue until Tuesday, so a strike would take place if an agreement is not reached by then.