Waste Management drivers voted to ratify a new six-year contract Thursday, ending a weeklong strike that left trash and recycling piled up in Kirkland, Redmond and several other nearby cities.
A news release from Teamsters Local 117, the union representing the yard waste and recycling truck drivers, said the drivers would begin resuming their pickup service to King and Snohomish counties later today. Garbage truck drivers, memher of Local 174, which honored the 117 picket lines, returned to work Thursday morning.
John MacGillivray, City of Kirkland solid waste program lead, applauded the end of the strike and said residents should resume putting out their waste containers on their scheduled pickup day.
Bellevue was not affected by the strike.
Teamsters Local 117 ratified a 5-year agreement with Republic Services in June.
“You may have seen media coverage about a disruption in the collection of recyclables and waste,” Mike Huycke, Republic’s Northwest Area President, said in a prepared statement last month. “To be clear, this is due to negotiations between the Teamsters and one of our competitors…and there is no reason to believe Republic’s customers will be impacted by this situation.”
Kirkland, Woodinville and other cities saw garbage pickup disruptions as contract talks between , which maintains its regional headquarters in Kirkland, and Teamsters Local 117 broke down last month. The 153 drivers have been working without a contract since the previous one expired on May 31, and initiated a strike on July 25.
