Teamsters Local 396 members at WM and Republic Services recently ratified new agreements in California following the expiration of prior contracts earlier this month.
Last week, the union announced a new contract with Republic Services that covers more than 1,900 workers and multiple facilities in Los Angeles and Orange counties. Over the weekend, the union also announced that members at WM voted to ratify new collective bargaining agreements covering facilities in those counties.
The union’s agreements with regional haulers expired Sept. 30. Local 396 represents workers at WM, Republic and other companies that service the RecycLA commercial waste franchise program in Los Angeles, along with other municipal and commercial business in the region.
“This is a great win for these hardworking Teamsters, but we are not done. Hundreds more Republic Teamsters across the country are bargaining new contracts this year,” said Teamsters General President Sean O’Brien in an Oct. 23 statement. “Republic Services, Waste Management, and every other company in this industry is on notice: the Teamsters will never stop fighting for the strongest contracts with the wages, benefits, and protections that our members have earned.”
The WM members work at facilities in areas such as Compton, Irvine, Los Angeles, Long Beach and Simi Valley. This round of bargaining also included employees from Waste Resources, which WM acquired in May, who had not been unionized before. Those drivers and vehicles have been incorporated into WM’s Compton and Long Beach facilities.
The union is also bargaining with CR&R Environmental Services at facilities in Orange, Riverside and San Bernardino counties. CR&R recently submitted a bid to enter the RecycLA system through an upcoming round of contract awards.
Athens Services employees at a facility in Paramount, acquired with the 2022 purchase of fellow RecycLA awardee CalMet Services, are also bargaining. Athens’ other facilities are not unionized.
Employees at Ware Disposal, another RecycLA awardee, are bargaining at sites in Los Angeles, Orange and San Diego counties.
Agreements are also pending with AAA Rubbish, a small hauler, and Park Disposal, a subsidiary of EDCO.
These latest agreements follow favorable news for Teamsters Local 350 members at WM and California Waste Solutions in the Sacramento area.
Meanwhile, an estimated 465 workers represented by Teamsters Local 952, including some Orange County Waste & Recycling, paused a strike as they negotiate a new contract.
