Westminster : Sanitation Workers End 3-Day Walkout

Workers in the Midway City Sanitation District are expected to begin picking up trash this morning that accumulated during a three-day strike after voting to end their walkout and begin negotiations on a new contract Monday.

The 46 employees, including trash collectors, mechanics and sewer cleaners, struck Tuesday to dramatize their request for an 8% wage increase. The offer was made to the district on May 23, and union spokesman Steve Pryor said the employees voted to strike because “Oct. 1 is too long to wait to get a counteroffer.”

Thursday morning, the union voted to go back to work at 6 a.m. today and return to the bargaining table Monday to open negotiations on a 1% counteroffer made by the district late Wednesday. The board agreed not to take any retaliatory action against union members for striking, and to not require employees to work overtime to clean up the trash.

Workers’ pay now ranges from $6 to $11 an hour, with an average of $8.50. An 8% pay increase would cost the district about $80,000, according to district figures.

The district serves 85,000 customers in Midway City and parts of Westminster and Garden Grove.