{"id":7916,"date":"2025-07-09T01:05:18","date_gmt":"2025-07-09T01:05:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/princetonillinois.com\/?p=7916"},"modified":"2025-07-09T01:05:18","modified_gmt":"2025-07-09T01:05:18","slug":"teamsters-strike-at-republic-services-disrupts-trash-pickup-in-la-salle-county-shaw-local","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/princetonillinois.com\/?p=7916","title":{"rendered":"Teamsters strike at Republic Services disrupts trash pickup in La Salle County – Shaw Local"},"content":{"rendered":"


Workers with Republic Services and Teamsters Local 179 picket in front of a semi along the south entrance to Republic Services on Wednesday, July 2, 2025 in Ottawa. <\/span>(Scott Anderson)
Thousands of La Salle County<\/a> residents had their trash collection disrupted Wednesday, after Teamsters at Republic Services in Ottawa<\/a> launched a strike as part of a broader dispute with the company.
The walkout by 25 members of Teamsters Local 179 is one of a series of actions that could expand to involve more than 3,500 workers nationwide.
On Tuesday morning, 450 Republic Services workers in Boston went on strike<\/a>, causing disruptions across the Boston area, according to a news release.
\u201cThis all started in Boston and it\u2019s now growing across the country,\u201d Teamsters Communications Coordinator Matt McQuaid said. \u201cTeamsters everywhere now are coming together to address ongoing issues with Republic Services.\u201d
The union is demanding improved wages, benefits and labor protections.
Chris Richter, President of Teamsters Local 179 of Joliet<\/a>, said workers in Ottawa are pushing for a contract that matches terms already in place at Republic\u2019s facilities in Joliet and Pontiac.
\u201cThose two contracts are very close in wages and working conditions – what we like to call an area standard,\u201d Richter said. \u201cRepublic has taken the position that they do not want to give us the same language or even remotely similar wages.\u201d
Negotiations began in mid-June, but Richter said talks have stalled recently.
\u201cWe feel that they\u2019ve been negotiating in bad faith,\u201d he said. \u201cThey\u2019ve taken upwards of five hours just to come back with counterproposals.\u201d
There are no future scheduled meetings.
While some Republic garbage trucks were seen on the streets Wednesday, Richter said residents and businesses in La Salle County should still expect service disruptions, especially for recycling and yard waste pickup.
\u201cThey had maybe 10 or 12 trucks out today, but they\u2019re filling them with supervisors who hold CDLs,\u201d Richter said. \u201cThey\u2019ve already told some customers not to expect yard waste or recycling to be picked up.\u201d
Richter said the issues in Ottawa reflect a larger pattern nationally.
\u201cThis is not unique to just Ottawa,\u201d he said. \u201cRepublic is making billions of dollars, and yet they don\u2019t want to show up with the money or the proper language to protect the jobs of these hardworking men and women.\u201d
According to the company\u2019s most recent earnings report<\/a>, Republic Services made more than $2 billion in profit last year and returned over $1 billion to shareholders, while also reporting strong revenue growth across its business in general.
In response to the strike, Republic Services issued a statement about the union\u2019s decision to strike:
\u201cIt is disappointing that the union called a work stoppage rather than continue negotiating in good faith toward a fair and competitive contract that benefits our employees and our customers. A work stoppage does not benefit our employees or the communities we serve.
\u201cWe planned for the possibility of a work stoppage and have taken several steps to continue providing service, including securing Republic Services employees from other areas, prioritizing routes and optimizing routing efficiency. We are currently operating 75% of our collection routes and have been communicating service changes to impacted customers. We apologize for the inconvenience this may cause.
\u201cWe provide our employees with competitive wages, a robust health and wellness package and a generous time-off and holiday plan. Our current offer would increase wages, add a paid holiday and maintain current health and time-off benefits with no reductions.
\u201cWe are committed to continuing discussions with the union and remain hopeful that an agreement will be reached soon.\u201d
Copyright \u00a9 2023 Shaw Local News Network
Copyright \u00a9 2023 Shaw Local News Network<\/p>\n

source<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Workers with Republic Services and Teamsters Local 179 picket in front of a semi along the south entrance to Republic Services on Wednesday, July 2, 2025 in Ottawa. (Scott Anderson)Thousands of La Salle County residents had their trash collection disrupted Wednesday, after Teamsters at Republic Services in Ottawa launched a strike as part of a broader dispute with the company.The<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-7916","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t