CUMMING, Ga. — Sanitation workers at Republic Services in Forsyth County walked off the job in solidarity with a national Teamsters strike, and 70,000 residents in the north metro Atlanta may not receive trash pickup on November 1.
Garbage collection for residents in Cumming and Alpharetta may have been affected today. Businesses and construction sites in Milton, Johns Creek, Roswell, Canton and Woodstock were possibly affected as well.
"Republic is experiencing limited service disruptions in the North Fulton area only - the majority of the greater Atlanta area’s operations are running," Republic Services said in a statement to 11Alive. "We will pick up any missed collections and resume normal service in the North Fulton area as quickly as possible. We apologize for the inconvenience and are doing everything we can to resolve the temporary situation."
According to Michel Banel of Teamsters Local Union 25, the picket will continue into the weekend, with further pickets planned for Saturday morning, November 2.
Members of the Teamsters in Boston are protesting unfair labor practices by Republic Services. They claim that the company has refused to negotiate with workers since they unionized last year.
The strike started in Massachusets in August, Georgia employees of Republic Services joined the picket line for one day in September.
“These sanitation workers put their lives on the line every day to protect the public health in the fifth-deadliest job in America,” said Sean O’Brien, President of Teamsters Local 25 in Boston and Teamsters International Vice President. “This for-profit trash company is taking taxpayer dollars but refusing to bargain with workers as required under federal law. Due to its illegal behavior in multiple places, Republic employees have gone on quite a few strikes in U.S. cities over the past few years.”
In their statement, Republic said the Boston workers were using local employees to engender sympathy.
"The Massachusetts labor negotiations have nothing to do with our local Atlanta area employees. We respect our employees and their right to union representation, but it is unfortunate that this small faction within the Teamsters organization is trying to disrupt local customers as a tool to pressure Republic in another state."
According to the Teamsters, union workers in 10 cities with a combined population of over 1 million residents are currently in contract negotiations with Republic Services.
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