Local impact of Teamsters’ strike has been mild thus far

Waste Management handles garbage collection and recycling for Hopewell Borough property owners and for some Hopewell Township property owners, who make individual contracts with the company.

By Ruth Luse
   IBT Local 701 — which represents Waste Management of New Jersey’s drivers, helpers, mechanics and equipment operators at the company’s Trenton district — went out on strike Monday.
   Waste Management handles garbage collection and recycling for Hopewell Borough property owners and for some Hopewell Township property owners, who make individual contracts with the company. Hopewell Borough contracts with the hauler on behalf of borough property owners. Collections take place on Tuesdays and Fridays.
   In the township, collections take place on Mondays and Thursdays, depending on the type of contract the individual property owner has with the company.
   Those township residents who don’t use Waste Management use other firms, said township Clerk Annette Bielawski Wednesday. They include Raritan Valley Disposal Service of Whitehouse Station, she said.
   Ms. Bielawski said Wednesday she’d heard of no problems with collection at that point.
   Michele Hovan, Hopewell Borough clerk, said Wednesday that the strike had not caused any major disruptions, as of that day. The hauler did collect garbage on Tuesday. And what recycling pickup was not completed Tuesday was being handled Wednesday.
   Ms. Hovan said: "Waste Management has been very responsible. They are facing a difficult situation" and "have not put the problem on the residents. They’ve (the company) been very polite and helpful" during conversations with borough officials.
   Ms. Hovan called the situation for Hopewell Borough a "mild inconvenience," as of Wednesday.
   According to a statement from John Wohlrab of Waste Management, the "company has continued to service its customers. While there have been some minor delays in service, the company has been able to continue to service most of its customers as scheduled."
   The company, the statement says, had conducted contract negotiations with the Teamsters union members for six weeks, including around-the-clock negotiations this past weekend, but the two sides could not reach an agreement. A mediator from the New Jersey Department of Labor has been put in charge of the negotiations, but no further negotiations had been scheduled, as of press time.
   SINCE the strike against the garbage hauler began Monday, the statement says, there have been "criminal and cowardly threats and acts of violence" directed toward Waste Management drivers.
   Company officials and police are investigating whether the actions are connected to the Teamsters’ strike, Mr. Wohlrab said in the statement. The company plans to seek "any and all civil and/or criminal sanctions" against the persons responsible for those acts, he stated.
   No such violence had taken place in Hopewell Valley, as of Wednesday, according to Hopewell Township police Capt. George Meyer.
   However in neighboring Lawrence, the driver of a Waste Management garbage collection truck was injured Tuesday afternoon when a group of six men — possibly striking Teamsters union members — threw bricks at his truck while he was collecting garbage in the Colonial Lakelands neighborhood. The driver, who was not seriously injured, was struck in the left arm by a brick that was tossed through the open window on the driver’s side of the truck, according to Lawrence Township Chief of Police Daniel Posluszny.
   Calls made to the Teamsters Local 701 were not returned prior to publication.
   
Lea Kahn of The Lawrence Ledger contributed to this account.