Chula Vista trash collection disrupted as workers join nationwide strike – San Diego Union-Tribune

Chula Vista residents and some businesses were without trash and recycling collection on Thursday as Republic Services workers joined a nationwide strike.

Thousands of employees from various states are on strike or honoring the picket line, demanding fair pay and benefits while their union, the Teamsters, and the company work to settle new contracts in Boston.

“Republic abuses and underpays workers across the country,” Sean M. O’Brien, Teamsters president, said in a statement Wednesday. “We will flood the streets and shut down garbage collection in state after state. Workers are uniting nationwide, and we will get the wages and benefits we’ve earned, come hell or high water.”

Since then, workers have been expanding their picketing to other locations, including Chula Vista.

Republic, which is Chula Vista’s lone waste hauler, acknowledged the local service interruptions and said in a statement Thursday that it is “making adjustments to our operations and working to resume regular service as quickly as possible.”

“Residents are advised to leave their containers out,” the waste hauler added. “We apologize for any inconvenience this may cause.”

Teamsters Local 542, which represents Chula Vista-based Republic workers, did not respond to a request for comment.

Chula Vista Mayor John McCann said he was hopeful that customers would have their service restored by Friday.

“My understanding is that they’re essentially doing a one-day sympathy strike in solidarity with the workers in Boston,” he said. “So, services may resume tomorrow. … But then again, you never know.”

McCann said that he hoped the issues in Boston would not “bleed over to the city of Chula Vista.”

In December 2021, more than 250 sanitation workers walked off the job in Chula Vista to protest stalled contract negotiations between Republic and the Teamsters. The work stoppage ended in January 2022 after striking trash haulers accepted Republic Services’ final contract offer. And in July 2022, the city and Republic settled for the costs the city incurred during the strike that affected customers in Bonita, Chula Vista, Clairemont and other parts of San Diego County.

Chula Vista spent about $107,000 on equipment and had its staff and third parties pick up trash because of the work stoppage. Customers received a nearly 50% rebate.

On his social media, McCann encouraged customers to “Keep your trash bin out” and to contact him for assistance.