Sanitation workers return but garbage piles remain
By Michelle Bandur
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STOCKTON, California (KCRA) — A big sigh of relief for residents in Stockton and some Bay Area cities, as workers have voted to approve a five-year contract with Republic Services. The contract approval ends a two-week-long strike.
But the garbage is still piling up.
“I have four kids, so, yeah, so much trash,” said Esmerelda Duarte.
The sights and smells on the streets still aren’t so pleasant.
“Animals and cats, dogs, people taking trash from, that’s too much,” Duarte said.
She said her husband has been taking their trash to Livermore, where he works.
“The maggots really aren’t something that are very attractive, but the smell on top of that,” said Stockton Mayor Christina Fugazi.
But residents will soon get a break from plugging their noses.
“It was 100% yes. Everything was great overall,” said Gilbert Gomez with Teamsters Local 439.
Gomez said members approved a five-year contract Sunday with Republic Services, focusing on better pay and health benefits.
Part of the agreement said employees would receive union medical benefits at the much cheaper cost of $10 a week.
“Medical benefits was big for them because a lot of them are paying anywhere from four to $1,200 a month,” Gomez said. “When you’re not making that much, you sometimes got to make a choice whether to go to the doctor or not.”
Gomez said after a year of stalled negotiations, the 35 Manteca landfill workers took a stand and went on strike in early July, leading to trash trouble in several cities, like Stockton.
“People don’t realize how important garbage is until it’s not there, then it’s like, ‘Oh, my garbage,'” Gomez said.
Fugazi said her trash has not been picked up yet.
“But I am looking forward to my regular pickup day, which is Thursday,” she said.
Fugazi stepped in during negotiations to remind Republic Services that the city can use another business in the battle of the bins.
She said it’s time the city gets cleaned up.
“I actually had somebody call me crying because they saw a truck go by and they didn’t pick up their trash, and they went running out and saying, ‘Please, please pick up my trash.’ People were at their wits’ end,” she said.
Duarte is ready for a fresh start.
“So really happy, really, really happy,” she said.
Some employees went back to work on Saturday, and the company says it will resume the normal pick-up schedule on Monday.
As for customers getting a refund, Republic Services said right now it’s focusing on trash pickup and will address things like billing in the near future.
Fugazi said she plans to stay on top of it and get that refund for customers.
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