Teamsters union votes to end garbage strike

CHICAGO -- Members of the Teamsters union, following the recommendation of union negotiators, voted overwhelmingly Thursday to end a nine-day strike that caused tons of garbage to pile up in the Chicago area.

Chicago Area Refuse Haulers Association said its trucks rolled roughly two hours after the evening ratification, and haulers were working through the night clearing festering piles of trash.

Association spokesman Bill Plunkett said the deal gives workers a 28 percent raise in wages and benefits over five years. The group accepted the Teamsters' contract proposal earlier in the day after a nearly 20-hour bargaining session.

"We are absolutely delighted to have our workers return to service," Plunkett said after the 1,540-to-373 union vote. "Tonight we get back to the business of serving our customers."

Waste Management employee Warren Manuel, 42, said he was glad to be back on his downtown route -- but wary of what lay ahead in the early hours. In particular he feared his stop at Italian Village, a three-story restaurant with six trash bins that normally are emptied daily.

"If it hasn't been picked up in nine days, I don't even want to think about that stop," Manuel said. "I'll think about it when I get there."

One of his first stops was a relatively odor-free garbage room shared by a caramel corn shop and a cookie bakery. Some 50 overstuffed plastic bags spilled out of the three bins -- enough to fill them three times over.

Union officials said the approved contract was not much different from their original proposal.

"It's a good contract," Teamsters spokesman Brian Rainville said. "(Members) should be proud of the effort they put forth on the strike line. This is the sort of thing you fight for."

Al Sanchez, Chicago commissioner of Streets and Sanitation, said it would be days and perhaps longer before all the garbage is gone. He urged people to avoid unnecessary cleanup projects and focus on getting rid of perishables.

Some 3,300 Teamsters who handle garbage for private waste haulers in Chicago's high-rises and in the suburbs went on strike Oct. 1.

A federal mediator was brought in to assist with negotiations after the Teamsters and the association, which represents 17 private companies, reached an impasse over wages, benefits and contract length.

Under the previous contract, the Teamsters earned between $10 and $21 an hour. Under a proposal the union rejected Sunday, the waste haulers association would have raised wages, health benefits and pensions for workers by $6.15 an hour over five years. At the time, the union said it was seeking $5.40 an hour over three years including wages, benefits and pension.

The work stoppage halted garbage pickup for millions of residents and businesses in northern Illinois. The strike affected a densely populated area of the state spanning as far south as Kankakee County and as far north as Wisconsin.

In Chicago, trash collection stopped for residential buildings with four or more units, businesses, and about 200 of the city's 600 public schools.

In some areas, the stench began to attract rats to overflowing garbage bins. Sanchez said his department had seen no sign of an increase in the rodent population, however.