Local garbage strike enters second week

Township urges residents to be patient for service.

By: Lea Kahn
   As a strike by Teamsters Local 701 against Waste Management of New Jersey continues into its second week, township officials are advising residents to continue to put out their household garbage on their regularly scheduled day and to leave it there until it is collected.
   Municipal Manager William Guhl said that despite a late start to garbage collection last week, all of the garbage had been collected by Saturday. There were no trucks on the street Jan. 10 — the first day of the garbage haulers’ strike — but the trucks were out the following day, he said.
   In the wake of violent incidents against the non-union truck drivers who had been brought in to pick up the garbage last week, Waste Management officials assigned security teams to follow the garbage trucks and document acts of violence, Mr. Guhl told Township Council on Tuesday night.
   There have been no reports of violence against the replacement workers in Lawrence during the second week of the strike.
   Mr. Guhl said that while he did not have any information on labor negotiations between the Teamsters union and the garbage hauler, it does not appear that a settlement would be reached any time soon.
   Given those circumstances, Mr. Guhl said, township residents have been asked to be patient. And based on the telephone calls that his office has received, people have been very understanding, he said. They realize collection may be slow, but they are coping with it.
   If residents have filled their township-issued blue garbage containers, they may put the overflow in their own garbage cans, Mr. Guhl said. He noted that compared to other towns, whose garbage is piling up, Lawrence’s streets look more attractive because of the buckets.
   "All in all, under the circumstances, it’s as good as can be expected," Mr. Guhl told the council.