Trash Truck Drivers Strike

Yea for unions!!!

Waste Management drivers represented by Local 200 of the Teamsters walked off the job this morning in a contract dispute, union officials said.

Bill Plunket, a Waste Management spokesman, said company and union negotiators were at a bargaining session at a suburban hotel when the Teamsters walked out and went on strike.

“We are disappointed the union has walked away from the bargaining table,” Plunket said.

[...]

Plunket said the company expected there would be some delays in trash pickup, but added that regular service would be restored by the end of the week.

He said drivers would emphasize trash pickup at essential businesses like hospitals and restaurants. Additionally, Waste Management will pay particular attention to Harley-Davidson reunion sites where large crowds may gather.

Strikes drive me nuts.  Management has no recourse or comparable tactic available to them.  If the workers want to get together and walk off the job as a bargaining tactic, that’s fine.  Have at it.  But management should have the discretion to fire them and hire replacements.  If management thinks that the cost of hiring and training new workers is more expensive in both dollars and lost productivity than coming to agreement with the workers, then fine.  If management thinks that hiring and training replacements is a better option, that’s fine too.  But the law is set up so that union workers can strike whenever they want and they face no cost for that other than lost wages.  It’s an unbalanced legal framework.