Strike Update: Striking Waste Management Workers Expand Pickets

Waste Management , according to the company website, as truck drivers of Teamsters Local 117 stepped up their strike efforts by expanding pickets to a Skagit County facility.

In the meantime, Local 117 issued a press release saying it had set up picket lines at a Waste Management facility in Burlington, and that the 53 drivers there from Local 231 had refused to cross them. That is likely to mean disruptions of service in north Snohomish and Skagit counties, areas that are not part of the current labor dispute.

Robin Freedman, a spokeswoman for Waste Management, which maintains its , expressed disappointment in the expansion of pickets.

"It's a really unfortunate situation," she said. "I can't believe union leadership would make this decision, especially if they want to get back to the bargaining table. But we are focusing our efforts on providing service to our customers and today (Tuesday) we'll have a third wave of substitute drivers on the street."

Waste Management is bringing in company drivers from other areas of the country to drive the Local 117 routes, and also as been arranging to hire qualified local replacement drivers.

The union late Sunday sent a contract proposal to the company via a federal mediator, but it went nowhere. "We reviewed it all yesterday (Monday), and it was far afield from our last, best offer," Freedman said.

The 153 recycle and yard waste drivers of Local 117 claiming Waste Management refused to bargain in good faith. Their previous contract expired at the end of May. Garbage truck drivers of Local 174, who negotiate their contract separately, are honoring the picket lines. Waste Management countered that it had offered a of about $98,000 per year at the end of a six-year contract.

Patch has calls in to the union and will update this story when it responds.