Over 500 union sanitation workers were unexpectedly locked out of work July 2 in Alameda County. The lockout follows months of negotiations between the union and the wealthy Waste Management Inc.
The corporation pledged it would not lock out the workers in the most recent bargaining session. But days later, Waste
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In response, the workers have held picket lines and a major rally on July 11 outside Waste Management’s transfer station in San Leandro.
Waste Management has been trying to undermine the strength and unity of several unions that represent Waste Management workers, including the Machinists Local 1546 and International Longshoreman and Warehouse Union Local 6.
The corporation has fought hard to limit the unions’ right to strike after Local 70 was locked out. Yet, the Machinists and ILWU members have openly stated their solidarity with the locked out workers and were represented in numbers at the July 11 rally.
The ANSWER Coalition (Act Now to Stop War and End Racism) and the Party For Socialism and Liberation also attended in support of the workers.
As the lockout continues, rotting trash piles up in the East Bay communities served by the sanitation workers: Albany, Emeryville, Oakland, Hayward, Newark, Livermore, the Castro Valley Sanitary District, Oro Loma Sanitary District in parts of San Leandro and San Lorenzo, San Ramon and unincorporated Alameda County.
The garbage pile-up is due to the incompetence and inability of “replacement workers”—scabs—to follow the garbage pick-up route.
Waste Management itself has admitted to the poor work done by the scabs. It has asserted, however, that hey are gradually improving with practice. The company’s recycling and composting programs have been scrapped altogether.
A feature article in the July 12 San Francisco Chronicle demonstrated how scab drivers are picking up trash in wealthy communities in the Oakland Hills, while ignoring the poor and primarily Black and Latino communities in West Oakland, East Oakland and Fruitvale.
The unsanitary conditions in the affected areas point to Waste Management’s utter disregard for community safety. The company is willing to gamble with the people’s health so that it can attack the sanitation workers’ union.
Local government has stepped into the labor dispute against Waste Management. The Alameda County Board of
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And on July 12, the city of Oakland filed suit in Alameda County Superior Court, calling on Waste Management to honor their contract by picking up all of the trash. Local media outlets are dedicating much coverage to the garbage workers struggle. Oakland Mayor Ron Dellums condemned Waste Management for putting the East Bay at a clear health, welfare and safety risk.
Waste Management has displayed a high level of arrogance and hypocrisy in its offensive against the union workers. It claims that it locked out the workers defensively to thwart a strike, which Waste Management said would endanger the community’s safety.
But Waste Management is the clear aggressor in this struggle. It is keeping the workers from collecting trash, endangering communities and attempting to break union solidarity—all to attack gains previously won by the workers.
Local 70 will be holding 24-hour picket lines at several Waste Management locations. Community support for the workers’ struggle is necessary at this time.
Community supporters can adopt a picket line by calling 510-632-4242, extension 222.
