About 450 workers at WM, formerly Waste Management, in the Chicago area have ratified a five-year contract that their union said contained historic improvements in pay and working conditions.
Members of Local 731 of the Teamsters union ratified the agreement with the private waste hauler by a 2-to-1 ratio, the union said.
The local has operated under a trusteeship while Teamsters leaders probe spending by its officers.
The union’s announcement of the deal contained general praise for the contract but did not offer specifics. Burr Ridge-based Local 731 currently is in contract talks for about 2,500 waste workers at several other companies. The WM agreement could serve as a precedent for others.
Company spokeswoman Lisa Disbrow declined to discuss exact terms. “Waste Management of Illinois Inc. is pleased that we reached a mutually beneficial five-year agreement that recognizes our employees for their hard work,” she said in an email.
WM driver Glenda Schaller said, “We were successful in these negotiations because we were united and determined at the table.” In a statement provided by the Teamsters, Schaller said, “We worked together and made a good contract better.”
In the waste-hauling sector, the Teamsters have prioritized higher wages, improved working conditions and language guaranteeing workers the right to honor others’ picket lines.
Chuck Stiles, director of the Teamsters Solid Waste and Recycling Division, said help from Teamsters President Sean O’Brien “really sealed the deal. It is by far the richest contract in Local 731’s history.”
O’Brien put Local 731 into trusteeship last spring, removing longtime President Terrence Hancock. At the time, O’Brien said he acted because the local’s leaders rang up $1.3 million in questionable and unauthorized expenditures since 2018.
Union spokesperson Kara Deniz said Tuesday the trusteeship remains in effect as the union works to fix its problems. She said the Teamsters have 18 months since declaring the trusteeship to complete the work and call for a new election of local leaders, but don’t expect to need that much time.
The expenditures O’Brien flagged included $53,000 for food and drink at Gibsons and other bars and steakhouses, $300,000 in year-end bonuses for board members and a pedicure and leather Coach bag for Hancock.
O’Brien, who was elected in 2022, said he stopped a “decadelong culture of misuse of local union assets” at Local 731.
