Strike Over at Republic, Manchester's Service Will Resume

We hope this means that Republic’s standard curbside collection services will be back up and running immediately.”

MBTS Town Administrator Tony Barletta

Today, good news for Manchester.  Republic Services and unionized trash workers announced they’ve agreed to a contract, and trash and recycling services to 14 Massachusetts communities, including Manchester and Gloucester, will resume.

According to the announcement, the agreement ends a months-long strike and Republic and Teamsters Local 25 have agreed to a five-year contract that will be voted on by union members today.

“We hope this means that Republic’s standard curbside collection services will be back up and running immediately,” said Manchester Town Administrator Tony Barletta, adding that the town is “happy to hear that the Teamsters and Republic have settled their contract.”

In the joint statement, market vice president Kurt Lavery said Republic Services looks forward to employees returning to work on Monday and that "we will work tirelessly to restore our customers' trust."

The strike hit in early July, when 450 unionized workers at Republic walked off the job just before the Independence Day weekend, aiming for maximum impact.  And it's worked.  For nearly three months, towns like Manchester, Ipswich, Beverly, Gloucester, and Marblehead have had to adapt to partial service from temporary workers at Republic for municipal trash collection and recycling.

During the strike, Manchester expanded the hours at the town transfer station on Pine Street (now open every Wednesday, Friday, and Saturday from 7:30 a.m. to 3 p.m.).  That's expected to continue, at least for now.  Barletta said the town will reassess the schedule once Republic is fully up and running.

"During the strike we never lost hope that we would reach an agreement that would benefit our members," said Tom Mari, Local 25 president, in a statement.  "We are now ready to return to work and provide the best service possible to Republic's customers."

Manchester was serviced by JRM Hauling & Recycling until 2022, when JRM was bought out by Republic and, word is, workers picked up from JRM to Republic have experienced a drop in wages and/or benefits.  As the strike dragged on, even MA Governor Maura Healey got involved, publicly rebuking Republic and calling its failure to resolve the strike “outrageous.”