Republic, Teamsters Settle Tennessee Strike

Republic Services Inc. and Teamsters workers have settled the strike at the company’s waste hauling operations in Memphis and Millington, Tenn.

Members of the Washington-based Teamsters Local 984 approved a new collective bargaining agreement April 28 and were expected to return to work April 29, the Phoenix-based Republic said in a news release.

The five-year contract will provide a pay raise for employees and transfer them out of the financially struggling Central States Pension Fund in favor of the same 401(k) retirement plan used by Republic’s management.

Under the new agreement Republic will contribute vested lump sums into the 401(k) for Memphis employees.

 “This is a great outcome for Republic, our customers and most importantly, our employees because it honors their work and years of service,” said Roger Lawrence, General manager for Republic, Memphis.
On April 16 175 workers went on strike at Republic’s Memphis area operations for the second time in four months.

The company serves about 200,000 residential customers in Memphis, Shelby County and northern Mississippi and more than 10,000 commercial and industrial customers with either waste or recycling pickup services.

Republic has an ongoing strike in Georgia.