Garbage workers approve new contract

[Omaha Steve]

Source: San Francisco Chronicle

26-day lockout ends after a 363-3 union vote

Matthai Chakko Kuruvila, Chronicle Staff Writer

Garbage workers in Alameda County overwhelmingly approved a new contract with Waste Management Inc. on Saturday morning, ending a 26-day lockout that left many neighborhoods with overflowing piles of trash in their streets.

Members of Teamsters Local 70 voted 363-3 to ratify the contract, which kept protections on health care and on honoring picket lines but added new disciplinary guidelines, which the union initially had resisted.

The first shifts will start at 8 p.m. Sunday, ending the messy tenure of more than 500 replacement workers brought in well in advance of the lockout.

Waste Management locked out 481 Teamsters on July 2 -- two days after their contract had expired on June 30. Another 380 union members -- including machinists, recyclers and clerical workers -- went on strike to protest the lockout.


Read more: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2007/07/28/BAG02R91AG13.DTL&tsp=1