Trash pickups in Malden resume slowly as workers’ strike continues in region

Republic Services restarts trash pickups this week with outside workers, despite strike; residents asked not to put out their recycling

By Steve Freker

Trash pickups resumed in Malden and some other communities in the region this week — slowly — as a strike by over 400 workers for Republic Services continued. The Republic employees are backed by their union, Teamsters Local 25, with union representatives saying in online reports that the workers are simply seeking equitable wages and benefits, on par with other larger sanitation companies in Massachusetts. While there was no trash pickups provided during the first week of the strike, service began again this week, on Tuesday, July 8, when the regular “Monday pickup day” was followed in Malden.

Malden was one of an undetermined number of communities in the immediate region where pickups resumed by Republic Services trucks. Apparently, Republic has hired nonunion personnel from out-of-state to resume trash pickups on a limited basis.

A message board on the City of Malden website — www.cityofmalden.org — has been providing updates. A Wednesday, July 9, post explained the resumed “one day later” trash pickups: “Thank you for your continued patience as the City navigates ongoing delays in trash collection due to the Teamsters Local 25 strike, which is impacting our contracted hauler, Republic Services.

“Residents are asked to continue placing their trash curbside on their regularly scheduled collection day, but please be aware that due to several factors, at this point, it’s likely to be picked up a day in arrears.”

Malden is one of 15 communities in the region affected by the trash pickup disruption. According to Mayor Gary Christenson, the city has been proactive in its response to the service disruption.

“We fully understand the inconvenience and frustration being experienced by our residents due to the trash pickup disruption,” Mayor Christenson said, “and though the reasons are beyond our city’s control, we are still determined to do everything in our power to assist our residents through this difficult situation.”

The strike began on Tuesday, July 1, just before the July 4 holiday and a long holiday weekend. By the end of the week, trash had begun piling up on the sidewalks around the community, in both the city receptacles and bags on the street.

On Sunday, at the end of the long Independence Day holiday weekend, the city hosted a free all-trash drop-off at the Malden Department of Public Works City Yards on Commercial Street, which drew a big response. In addition, there have been several citywide recorded messages since the strike started, giving updates instructing residents of city-provided options. Included was a second free drop-off day for residents’ trash, for Thursday, July 10, from 3:00 to 8:00 p.m. at the City Yard (356 Commercial St., Malden). Residential trash — only — is being accepted, as businesses have private, non-city-contracted services. The city “blue bags” are not required.

While the city advises residents to not put their recycling items on the sidewalk for pickup for the time being, they do advise that residents may bring their recycling to the Ferryway K-8 School (150 Cross St.) parking lot and leave it in receiving receptacles there from 11:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m.

Residents are encouraged to continue to receive updates on the trash pickup disruption via citywide recorded messages and to keep checking for what have been daily updates on the city’s website: www.cityofmalden.org

Those residents who are not registered/signed up with the citywide messaging service may do so on the city’s website, listed above.

Republic, based in Phoenix, Ariz., is one of the nation’s largest waste management companies, with 13 million customers and more than 1,000 locations in North America.

Teamsters is one of the largest organized labor unions in the United States, with some 1.4 million members in the United States and Canada. In the greater Boston and North Shore area, Teamsters Local 25 has 13,000 members, and in Massachusetts, there are 21 locals with a combined 45,000 members.