Republic Services workers widely reject contract offer

Union workers for Republic Services overwhelmingly rejected a new contract with the only trash collection company serving the Las Vegas Valley, setting up a potential showdown as the June 9 expiration date for the current contract approaches.

"There are issues with money and there are issues with the absenteeism policy and company rules," Teamsters Local 631 Secretary-Treasurer Wayne King said Thursday. The union represents nearly 1,200 Republic Services employees.

Tuesday's vote, held at the union hall on Lamb Boulevard, was 718 against the contract and 198 in favor of the contract, he said.

From a historical perspective, it is not unusual for an initial contract proposal to go through more than one round of negotiations, Republic Services President Bob Coyle said.

The company has extended a "very attractive offer" that includes a 37 percent increase in the workers' hourly wage and benefits package, he said. It amounts to $8.93 an hour above the current $24.34 wage and benefits.

Republic's "no-call, no-show" attendance policy, which allows workers to miss their shift without notifying a supervisor, would be reduced from 10 days to three days a year, a company spokeswoman said.

"We believe that the two sides are probably not that far apart from reaching an agreement that the rank and file will support," Coyle said in a company statement. "So far, the discussions on both sides have all been very positive and we expect that to continue as we look at the areas of the contract that are still at issue."

Coyle said he looks forward to returning to the bargaining table and discussing those issues with the union and the negotiating committee.

"Local 631 will be meeting and conferring with our membership over the next several days to determine our course of action," King said. "We're committed to working on issues that generated such a resounding no vote and we'll make every effort to satisfy the concerns of (our) membership."

He said the union has been "seriously negotiating" with Republic for the past 90 days.

The union went through contentious negotiations with Republic Services, then called Silver State Disposal, in 1999 after the company outsourced its transfer services to haul trash from the refuse facility in North Las Vegas to the landfill in Apex, eliminating about 70 union truck driver jobs.

Several executives at Silver State were indicted by a federal grand jury on charges of fraud and misreporting financial information in the 1990s.

Billionaire businessman Wayne Huizenga purchased Silver State in 1997 for $378 million.

Officials of Clark County, which has a service contract with Republic through 2035, said they're not concerned about possible work stoppages at the company.

"We are confident that their labor issues will be resolved," said county spokesman Dan Kulin. "The company does have a contingency plan that we're aware of, and we are confident that service would not be interrupted under any circumstance."

Review Journal writer Jennifer Robison contributed to this report.