By DAN TOMASELLO
LYNNFIELD — Trash collection has been on a normal schedule this week even though contract negotiations between contractor Republic Services and Teamsters Local 25 remain at a standstill.
In the wake of contract negotiations breaking down between Republic Services and Teamsters Local 25, the union went on strike on July 1. The work stoppage has been impacting municipalities across the North Shore and Greater Boston, and has spread nationwide.
Town Administrator Rob Dolan wrote on the Town of Lynnfield Facebook page that trash collection “will be on a regular pick up schedule” this week.
“Please have items curbside by 7 a.m. on your regular collection day,” stated Dolan.
While Republic Services’ replacement workers have been collecting trash in town, Department of Public Works (DPW) employees have been collecting recyclables due to Republic Services not collecting them. A large number of residents praised the DPW’s recycling collection efforts in a July 19 post on the Lynnfield Community Group Facebook page.
Dolan noted that residents who have a sticker for metal goods and appliances will have their items picked up this week “as scheduled.”
“Drop-off residential trash and commingled recycling will continue to be available at dumpster bins at the DPW facility on Monday through Saturday from 7 a.m. to 3 p.m.,” stated Dolan.
Dolan noted that there is no recycling this week, as DPW employees collected recyclables on Saturday, July 19. Curbside recycling is collected bi-weekly in Lynnfield.
“Thank you for your cooperation and patience,” stated Dolan.
The Select Board discussed the ongoing trash strike between Republic Services and Teamsters Local 25 during an executive session that took place on Tuesday, July 22, taking place after deadline. While the public portion of the Select Board’s meeting included an agenda item that referenced a “possible vote to authorize legal action against Republic Services for failure to meet obligations under the town’s contract for trash and recycling collection,” no vote took place.
Town Counsel Tom Mullen stated in a July 9 letter sent to Republic Services’ leadership team in Phoenix, Arizona that Lynnfield will “commence withholding daily liquidated damages” and “may also terminate the agreement and proceed to exercise its rights under the performance bond” if the company has continued not following the contract’s provisions.
“Specifically, since Monday, July 1, 2025, the contractor has wholly failed and refused to collect recyclables within Lynnfield,” Mullen stated. “It has also failed (and sometimes refused) to collect refuse at all in certain locations, and failed to collect it on schedule in others.”
Gloucester, Beverly, Malden, Peabody, Danvers and Canton filed a complaint in Salem Superior Court last week that requested injunction relief from Republic Services in order to address the health issues from trash not being collected has caused in those communities. The case was heard in Essex County Superior Court on Tuesday, taking place after deadline.
Republic Services and Teamsters Local 25 resumed contract negotiations on Tuesday, July 15 and Friday, July 18 with a federal mediator, but the two sides were still unable to come to an agreement.
In a statement provided to NBC 10 Boston, Republic Services wrote that the company is “committed to resolution” and accused Teamsters Local 25 of choosing “chaos and conflict.”
“We are 18 days into the Teamsters-led strike, and a stark contrast has emerged: Republic Services is focused on facts and reaching an agreement that provides our employees with market-leading pay and benefits, while Teamsters leadership is focused on disinformation and disruption,” Republic Services stated. “Negotiations ended earlier than we wanted (on July 18), and the meeting revealed the Teamsters’ true priorities – their work stoppage isn’t about our Boston employees’ welfare. It’s about demands that benefit the union and a desire to cause chaos and conflict.”
Republic Services wrote that the company has offered employees “pay industry-leading wages” as well as to “maintain our zero-premium health care plan with no deductible” as well as providing “industry-leading retirement contributions.”
“The Teamsters have rejected strong proposals without allowing members to review or vote; demanded the ability to force Boston employees to strike over disputes in other states, which would harm our communities; engaged in dangerous and unlawful intimidation tactics; (and) vandalized equipment and physically assaulted our employees,” Republic Services stated. “Yet, during (July 18’s) meeting, Local 25 President Tom Mari claimed that, ‘we are stonewalling them.’ This could not be further from the truth. Our proposal to increase wages 16 percent immediately, and 43 percent over the life of the contract is far from ‘stonewalling.’”
Mari described the July 18 negotiations in a statement emailed to the Villager as an “another wasted bargaining session where Republic took a five-hour caucus and then returned without any increase in its wage proposal and refused to budge from its position not to agree to the more comprehensive Teamsters health insurance plan.”
“This continues Republic’s policy of surface bargaining,” said Mari. “They’re going through the motion with no intent to reach an agreement, and that’s why we filed an unfair practice charge against the company with the National Labor Relations Board.”
Mari stated that Teamsters Local 25 “offered a complete package that would still leave Republic almost $5 behind Capitol in the first year of the contract because we offered to delay the implementation of the Teamsters health insurance for one year and would permit employees who aren’t covered by the company’s plan to opt out of ours.”
“You would think that offer, with the possibility of a five-year contract, would force the company to give us a significant counter proposal. Instead, after five hours of waiting, the company gave us nothing,” stated Mari. “They refused to increase their wage offer, refused the Teamster health insurance, still insisted on using cameras in the cabs to discipline drivers, refused to allow drivers to honor picket lines and continued to threaten punishment for employees for picket line activities. Local 25’s negotiating committee refused to be intimidated by Republic’s unlawful behavior.”
The two sides did not schedule another bargaining session when the Villager went to press on Tuesday.
In addition to the lawsuit filed by the six communities in Essex County Superior Court, Republic Services’ parent companies, Allied Waste North America, LLC and Allied Waste Industries, LLC, filed a lawsuit against Teamsters Local 25 that accused the union of engaging in “violent strike activities and other unlawful conduct” that included allegedly stealing a roll-off dumpster truck from a Roxbury yard, threatening employees, blocking access to and from Republic Services’ facilities, vandalism and using racist and homophobic slurs.
“Plaintiffs Allied Waste North America, LLC and 623 Landfill, Inc. seek an immediate temporary restraining order and a preliminary injunction to stop this unlawful conduct,” the lawsuit states.
Federal Court Judge Brian Murphy denied Republic’s motions for a temporary restraining order and a preliminary restraining order on Monday.
“Frankly, I’m not surprised,” said Mari in a statement emailed to the Villager. “We knew the allegations made by Republic did not justify any action by the federal court. As usual, Republic misled the court about our conduct. Maybe now Republic will come to its senses and come back to the bargaining table to resolve the strike. In addition to continuing the strike in Greater Boston, Local 25 will continue extending its lines elsewhere in the country until Republic agrees to a fair and equitable contract. All we want is what our members now receive from Capitol and Star.”
Gov. Maura Healey and other state leaders have called on Republic Services to settle contract negotiations with Teamsters Local 25. Peabody City Clerk Allyson Danforth even wrote a letter to Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates on behalf of the City Council that urged him to use his “influence as the principal of Cascade Investment, LLC, a major shareholder of Republic Services, to take immediate and constructive action” in order to bring the strike to an end.