Above photo: More than 400 waste collection workers walked off the job after their contract with waste management company Republic Services expired on July 1, 2025. David L. Ryan / The Boston Globe via Getty Images
Sanitation Workers Demand Higher Wages.
As work stoppages spread, the Teamsters’ president says a waste disposal company is at “war” with sanitation workers.
A local sanitation workers strike that began on July 1 in Boston, Massachusetts, and left trash unpicked across the city is now spreading nationwide in a series of labor actions coordinated by the Teamsters union as frustrated workers demand better pay and benefits from Republic Services, a major waste disposal company.
The Teamsters said in an email on Friday that about 550 sanitation workers were on strike in multiple cities while 1,600 others refused to cross picket line extensions in solidarity with the strikers at local Republic Services sites in Massachusetts, Georgia, Illinois, Washington State, and California. For example, workers in the Bay Area launched a temporary trash pickup stoppage this week in solidarity with fellow workers striking over negotiations with Republic Services for better pay at a regional landfill near Stockton.
“Republic Services has been threatening a war with American workers for years — and now, they’ve got one,” said Teamsters General President Sean M. O’Brien in a statement on Wednesday.
While trash collection has resumed in some Boston residential neighborhoods, trash bags continued to pile up this week outside businesses and in dumpsters as sanitation workers demand higher wages, better benefits, and paid time off, according to local reports. The Boston City Council voted unanimously on July 9 to support the workers in their strike, which council members said was both a labor issue and a public health issue.
In a statement to local media this week, Teamsters Local 25 in Boston told Republic Services on July 3 that it was prepared to extend the picket line to other cities if the company failed to begin contract negotiations with the union by July 7, but the company did not meet the deadline. Republic Services is a private contractor in charge of waste pickup and disposal in cities across the country, and work stoppages spread coast to coast this week after Local 25 extended the picket line to job sites beyond Boston.
Republic Services did not respond to a request for comment from Truthout by the time this story was published. In a statement to local media in Boston, the company said it stands ready to meet with the Teamsters Local 25 “when they are ready to re-engage.”
“We will continue to focus on providing service and doing right by our employees,” Republic Services said. “We call on Teamsters’ leadership to immediately stop the instigation, intimidation, and criminal acts, and resolve this situation.”
The right to join a union and go on strike is protected by federal labor law, so it’s unclear what “criminal acts” Republic Services could be referring to in its response to Local 25 in Boston. Raising the specter of criminal prosecution may itself be an intimidation tactic. O’Brien said the Teamsters are not backing down because Republic Services “abuses and underpays” sanitation workers serving communities across the country.
“They burn massive profits and funnel money to undeserving, corrupt executives,” O’Brien said. “The Teamsters have had it with Republic. We will flood the streets and shut down garbage collection in state after state. Workers are uniting nationwide, and we will get the wages and benefits we’ve earned, come hell or high water.”
In a statement, the Teamsters union says Republic Services has refused to bargain in good faith and settle fair labor contracts with sanitation workers despite months of negotiations in cities around the country. Instead, the company has resorted to “union-busting tactics” and “illegal threats” in order to provoke a nationwide strike. Teamsters General Secretary-Treasurer Fred Zuckerman said Republic Services is one of the most “depraved employers we’ve ever come across.”
“Republic has lied, stalled, and broken the law to try to squeeze every last dime out of workers. But these corporate thieves have underestimated our members,” Zuckerman said in a statement on July 9.
The war of words comes as work stoppages spread, potentially delaying trash pickup for millions of people. However, Zuckerman said the Teamsters will not give up until they receive a fair contract from Republic Services.
“To the millions of Americans seeing their trash pile up because of Republic’s strike, remember one thing: this corporation has hauled in $77 billion,” said Victor Mineros, director of the Teamsters Solid Waste and Recycling Division, in a statement. “Republic can easily afford a fair and competitive contract that meets the needs of everyday hardworking Americans.”
While Truthout was unable to verify that Republic Services has brought in $77 billion in revenue, an earnings statement released to investors shows the company had a net income of $2 billion in 2024. Republic Services reported revenue growth at 5.6 percent over the three months ending in December 2024, and the company returned nearly $1.2 billion to shareholders last year.
Adan Alvarez, a waste management worker in southern California, said his local Teamsters union is not technically on strike against Republic Services. Instead, their union contract allows workers to refuse crossing a picket line, and workers in southern California announced a work stoppage after Local 25 in Boston extended its picket line this week. Alvarez and fellow workers are responsible for safely transporting hazardous materials, and their contract with Republic Services expires next year.
“The reason we support one another is there is strength in numbers,” Alvarez told Truthout in an interview.
Mineros said sanitation and waste management workers perform “dangerous, high-stakes jobs” that protect local communities and the environment from pollution and hazardous waste.
“They deserve a contract that respects their contributions — not lowball proposals and corporate stonewalling. The company must bargain in good faith,” Mineros said.
Meanwhile, after more than a week of work stoppage, an unrelated trash pickup and city services strike in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, came to an end after eight days in the early hours of Wednesday morning after members of the local American Federation of State, Council and Municipal Employees (AFSCME) union reached a tentative finalized a contract with city officials. However, rank- and- file workers still need to approve the contract, and some union leaders left the final negotiations in frustration.
The deal includes a one-time $1,500 bonus and a 3 percent annual wage increase for three years, for a total of 9 percent by 2028, according to reports. Union leaders pushed for a 5 percent annual wage increase after originally proposing an 8 percent annual increase. The average salary for a sanitation worker is $46,000 a year in Philadelphia, which the union argues is not a living wage.
Greg Boulware, president of the AFSCME local representing public workers in Philadelphia, told the Philadelphia Inquirer that the strike is over and “nobody’s happy” as he left negotiations with the city on Wednesday. If the rank and file reject the deal, Boulware said the strike could potentially resume.
“We felt our clock was running out,” Boulware said.
