Three-Day Garbage Strike Ends In Seattle

Thu., Feb. 13, 1997

Associated Press

Representatives for garbage-hauling drivers and the company they work for agreed on a new contract Wednesday, ending a three-day strike that left trash piling up in north Seattle neighborhoods.

Refuse collection will resume today, officials announced.

The 10 full-time and two part-time drivers who work for Sanitary Transportation Inc. went on strike at 6 a.m. Monday in a dispute over wages and hours.

Sanitary Transportation is a subcontractor for General Disposal Corp., which is the city’s prime residential garbage collection contractor north of Yesler Way.

Teamsters Local 174, which represents STI drivers, contended that the company pays its drivers $2.82 an hour less in wages and benefits than similar sanitation drivers for other companies. The union also said STI drivers have inferior medical benefits and no pensions.

Terms of the new contract weren’t announced, but STI said it will increase the wages and benefits of STI’s drivers over the next year to levels comparable to General Disposal’s drivers.

General Disposal also agreed to provide additional funds to STI under its subcontract to help pay for the increased wages and insurance benefits, STI said.

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