TRASH HAULERS HIT THE PICKET LINES STRIKE AFFECTS COMMERCIAL SITES IN VALLEY.Byline: ALEX DOBUZINSKIS Staff Writer SUN VALLEY -- Waste Management Inc. workers went on strike Friday, affecting hundreds of thousands of residents and businesses in Los Angeles Los Angeles (lôs ăn`jələs, lŏs, ăn`jəlēz'), city (1990 pop. 3,485,398), seat of Los Angeles co., S Calif.; inc. 1850. County, but mostly just commercial customers in the San Fernando Valley San Fernando Valley Valley, southern California, U.S. Northwest of central Los Angeles, the valley is bounded by the San Gabriel, Santa Susana, and Santa Monica mountains and the Simi Hills. . The strike began about 3 a.m. when union representatives for the sanitation workers sanitation worker n. A person employed, as by a municipality or private company, to collect and dispose of garbage. turned down the latest contract offer made by Waste Management. "Frankly, I think it's shocking and it's disappointing that the workers chose to strike when their leadership was recommending ratifying this deal with Waste Management," said Kit Cole, a company spokeswoman. About 450 Waste Management workers went on strike Friday at locations in Sun Valley, Long Beach and Compton, said Jay Phillips, president of Teamsters Teamsters large, powerful union of U. S. truckers. [Am. Hist.: NCE, 2703] See : Labor Local 396, the union representing the workers. The company made three offers since negotiations for a new contract began in July, Phillips said. The union decided not to recommend ratification The confirmation or adoption of an act that has already been performed. A principal can, for example, ratify something that has been done on his or her behalf by another individual who assumed the authority to act in the capacity of an agent. of the first two offers, but after the latest offer, union officials told workers they should ratify ratify v. to confirm and adopt the act of another even though it was not approved beforehand. Example: An employee for Holsinger's Hardware orders carpentry equipment from Phillips Screws and Nails although the employee was not authorized to buy anything. it, he said. Despite that, the workers voted Wednesday to reject what Waste Management called its final offer. The truckers make up to $17.80 an hour, which is less than trash haulers make in other major metropolitan areas, Phillips said. "We're not going after a company that doesn't have the resources to compensate our workers," Phillips said. "They're a very profitable, publicly traded company publicly traded company A company whose shares of common stock are held by the public and are available for purchase by investors. The shares of publicly traded firms are bought and sold on the organized exchanges or in the over-the-counter market. ." Los Angeles is the most competitive trash market in the country, and Waste Management is worried businesses will use other trash haulers, Cole said. The company is bringing in workers from California and other parts of the country to replace the strikers. "It's not acceptable to us that our customers should have to suffer service interruptions because of a strike," Cole said. On a dust-caked industrial road in Sun Valley, more than 100 workers carried picket signs outside Waste Management's Bradley Landfill. Picketers chanted chant n. 1. a. A short, simple series of syllables or words that are sung on or intoned to the same note or a limited range of notes. b. A canticle or prayer sung or intoned in this manner. c. and briefly blocked trucks pulling out of the facility before letting the trucks drive by. "We feel that we have proven our point, let's put it that way, because I know pretty much that they're hurting, and I hope we come to an agreement soon," said striking trucker Adam Sanchez, 52, of North Hollywood. Waste Management serves about 12,000 customers in the city of Los Angeles
Most of those are businesses -- everything from shopping centers shopping center, a concentration of retail, service, and entertainment enterprises designed to serve the surrounding region. The modern shopping center differs from its antecedents—bazaars and marketplaces—in that the shops are usually amalgamated into to factories -- but a few customers are large apartment complexes, he said. Waste Management competes with 140 private trash-hauling companies serving L.A. businesses, Zaldivar said. The city's own sanitation workers pick up residential trash. alex.dobuzinskis(at)dailynews.com (818) 546-3304 CAPTION(S): photo, box Photo: Outdoor yard waste dumped on a street in Sun Valley on Friday blocks the road in front of a Waste Management facility on the first day of the strike by trash haulers. Tina Burch/Staff Photographer Box: On strike Source: Daily News research Gregg Miller/Staff Artist |
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