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All is not wasted
Striking Teamsters get back to work
By Jo Rey Lopez
“This is a hardworking company and these are hardworking people” – Waste Management Wisconsin spokesperson Lynn Morgan
Local Teamsters Union 200 has accepted what Waste Management officials called their final deal to end the month long strike against the company last week.
The sanitation workers officially went back on the job Wednesday, Oct. 1.
The strike ended with the majority of the union’s 240 members voting for the agreement. The union was without a contract since April and was seeking a deal before the strike, but couldn’t reach a deal.
The walkout came Aug. 26, just as the Milwaukee area was shifting into gear for the 105th anniversary party for Harley-Davidson, threatening to cripple the area with tons of garbage overflowing thousands of residents’ and businesses’ trash and recycle containers. The strike forced the company to bring in workers from other regional locations to man the routes while the strike dragged on.
In an interview with the Post, Waste Management’s Wisconsin spokesperson Lynn Morgan said the main sticking point was restructuring of the union’s retirement plan. The troubled Central States Pension Fund used and ran by the Teamsters has lost billions of dollars in bad investments and pull-outs by big contributors like UPS in December.
“I’ve been associated with the company in this market for 24 years, this is the first strike that I can recall,” Morgan said, and feels that it shows the company and its employees have a good history of working together, she added when asked if the strike strained the relationship.
The contract signed by the union does have the new 401k package and Waste Management has offered all members a one-time pay-in of $1,000 to get them started, Morgan said. She also added that the company would match a portion of employee contributions to the new package.
The new contracts will last five years, leaving time for both sides to work on the next deal to prevent another strike and any service interruptions.
“This is a hardworking company and these are hardworking people,” said Morgan. She said she sees the two sides continuing to work together on future employment agreements.
As reported in the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel, the union feels that it had to make a hard decision in hard times through a statement released by the Teamsters on the situation.
“With this vote, our members decided that given the turbulent nature of our economy, their families' future must take priority over holding out for a better offer from Waste Management.”
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