North County : Garbage Workers Return to Jobs in Nine Cities

Garbage collection in eight Orange County cities should be back to normal after Memorial Day weekend, as 220 striking workers returned to their jobs Friday.

In a ninth city, Anaheim, households were to have had their garbage picked up by late Friday night, but businesses may have to wait until Wednesday for the Anaheim Disposal Co. to catch up.

Workers for Anaheim Disposal, which collects from the city’s commercial sector, ended their strike Friday afternoon. Employees of another Anaheim-based company, Jaycox Disposal, went back to work Friday morning.

Jaycox employees on Thursday had joined the Anaheim Disposal Co. workers who had walked off their jobs Wednesday. Jaycox serves all homes in Anaheim and Garden Grove, parts of Costa Mesa, Westminster, Stanton, Santa Ana, Orange and unincorporated areas. Jaycox also serves businesses in Brea and Placentia, while Anaheim Disposal handles businesses in Anaheim.

The workers were protesting a 25-cent raise offer in a new three-year contract that would replace one that expired at midnight Tuesday. Union shop steward Carlos Cueva said the previous contract had yearly raises of 85 cents, 95 cents and 85 cents an hour, respectively, and the offered 25-cent hourly raise each year “is not fair.”

While union and company officials called the action a wildcat strike, the workers disagreed. “The union is not backing us up. They’re leaving us out in the cold,” said Richard Medina, a driver. “How can it be a wildcat strike when we don’t have a contract?”

Manny Yanez, of Teamsters Local 396, confirmed that the union did not support a strike. The contract, raising a driver’s wage from $9.05 to $9.30, barely won approval at five of the companies. The vote at Jaycox Disposal Co., Great Western in Santa Ana, MG Disposal in Fullerton, Park Disposal in Buena Park and Orange Disposal in Orange was 181 for the contract and 180 against, Yanez said. (Anaheim Disposal and Rainbow Disposal, Huntington Beach, fall under a different classification because of their transfer stations, and voted separately, Yanez said.)

With the exception of MG Disposal in Fullerton, whose general manager refused to comment, officials at all other companies said Friday there was no disruption of service and no strike was expected. Fullerton City Manager Bill Winter said the contract was ratified and no strike was expected.