Trash pickup resumes in city, will be day behind

4/18/2013

Republic Services resumed trash pickup Wednesday in the city of Toledo, and company officials said they would be back on schedule by the end of the week.

“By the end of the day Saturday, we’ll be current, we’ll be caught up,” said Paul Rasmusson, Republic Services division sales manager.

Mr. Rasmusson said pickup will be pushed back one day for the remainder of the week.

Service in Toledo was disrupted Tuesday by an ongoing labor dispute in Youngstown between Republic and members of the Teamsters union that has spilled over into several other Ohio cities.

Workers from Youngstown have picketed outside Republic's office in Erie, Mich., the last two days.

Though company and union officials in Toledo said there was no dispute locally, most members of Teamsters Local 20 honored the picket line and did not report for work Tuesday.

Because of that, Republic officials said they had only been able to cover about 15 of Tuesday’s 60 to 65 routes. Republic has one driver for each route.

Picketing continued outside Republic’s office on Wednesday, but Mr. Rasmusson said 37 drivers — a little more than half — crossed the picket line to report for work. The company brought in temporary workers and employees from outside the area to pick up most of the remaining routes.

Mr. Rasmusson said trash collection in Monclova, Perrysburg, and Sylvania townships would resume today and should be back on schedule next week as well.

Republic has focused on trash first, and said it would begin collecting recyclables as soon as possible. The company is asking residents to leave recycling bins by the curb until they’re able to get to them, which Mr. Rasmusson said should be soon.

Bill Licthenwald, president of Local 20, did not return a call from The Blade seeking comment on Wednesday. He also did not respond to several attempts to contact him on Tuesday.

Mr. Rasmusson declined to comment on whether Republic viewed Local 20’s actions as illegal or whether the company would file a complaint with the National Labor Relations Board.

In spite of the work stoppage, negotiations between Local 20 and Republic have been ongoing this week as the two sides attempt to reach a new contract agreement. The current contract expires May 15.