Trash Strike OVER! Republic Services and Teamsters Local 25 reach agreement on new 5-year contract

Regular service resumed on Monday for pickup of disposal trash and recyclables

By Steve Freker

One of the toughest 79-day stretches in City of Malden history ended Monday when regular trash pickup in this city and 17 other North Shore communities resumed, ending a months-long workers strike. Last Friday it was announced that waste management giant Republic Services and Teamsters Local 25 have reached agreement on a new five-year contract. Malden and 17 other cities and towns — mainly on the North Shore — had watched trash pile up at times and related health issues mount up since about 400 Republic Services workers walked off the job.

Although replacement workers had been working in the city on a somewhat regular basis since shortly after the strike began, it was not anything close to what is necessary to keep a city the size of Malden serviced.

Republic officials said on Thursday, “We look forward to our employees returning to work on Monday and quickly resuming normal operations.”

Since late July there had been some trash pickup and also pickup of recyclable items, but it had been far from steady or reliable.

About 400 Republic Services waste collection workers walked off the job July 1, affecting residents and commercial businesses in greater Boston and North Shore cities and towns. The walkout caused disruptions to trash and recycling collections even as Republic brought in workers from other parts of the country to service local routes.

“During the strike we never lost hope that we would reach an agreement that would benefit our members,” Tom Mari, President of the Local 25 union, said in a statement. “We are now ready to return to work and provide the best service possible to Republic’s customers.”

Terms of the contract were not announced. Teamsters officials had consistently claimed Republic workers were not paid on the salary levels of workers in the same jobs with other waste removal companies.