Waste Management Threatens to Lock Out Sanitation Workers

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Apr 27, 2010, 07:30 ET

Company Could Profit From Labor Dispute

SEATTLE, April 27 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Waste Management appears poised to lock out sanitation workers that service King County and Snohomish County at 5 p.m. if workers do not accept significantly lesser health care protections than provided by every other major waste company in the area.

Waste collection and disposal ranks as the fifth most dangerous job in the U.S. Waste Management employees regularly report being exposed to human feces, rats, rotting meat, maggots, dirty needles, blood products and medical waste.

"We came back to the table to avoid a public health crisis," said Rick Hicks, Secretary-Treasurer of Teamsters Local Union 174, "It's clear Waste Management wants a labor dispute. There is no reason why Waste Management can't provide the same health care protections provided by its competitors."

A lockout would create an opportunity for Waste Management to move trash away from King County's landfill system and into its Oregon landfill. Recently, King County pushed back the closure of its county landfill from 2015 to 2024, putting an end to Waste Management's plan to bolster its Oregon landfill business. However, a lockout could cause the county-owned landfill to become inoperable, allowing Waste Management to capture $85 million/year in public revenue by forcing city officials to move trash to Oregon via train.

"Waste Management makes its largest profits in landfill operations, not on curbside pick-ups," said Peter Anderson, a waste industry expert and President of RecycleWorlds Consulting. "King County is an attractive market and the question that must be answered is whether the company is abusing this dispute to win landfill business so that it can later impose monopoly pricing by incorrectly claiming that it is their employee's fault."

SOURCE Teamsters Local 174