10/07/2003 Update: Chicago Garbage Piles Up in Day 2 of Strike

The strike is starting to impact the debris removals.

We have already started to see debris starting to be dumped on vacant properties.
We are watching this closely and will keep you advised.

Robert 

September 27, 2003

Tribune staff reports
Published October 2, 2003, 2:02 PM CDT

From suburban curbsides lined with bulging garbage bags to overflowing dumpsters spilling their contents into Chicago alleys, the trash started piling up as the region entered the second day of a strike by Teamsters union waste haulers.

In the Loop, MB Real Estate, management agent for the Daley Center, sent a notice to tenants asking them to keep their trash output especially of food items to a minimum.

Most suburbs told people to stop putting out household refuse, yard waste and recyclables on the curb until the strike was over.

Arlington Heights' Web site advised residents that all pick-ups were canceled for the duration of the walkout, and they should double-bag their garbage, spray ammonia into the trash to keep animals out and store the refuse in covered cans.

People such as Judy Chamberlain of LaGrange were taking things one day at a time. "We'll just pack it up and stack it as high as they want," Chamberlain told WGN-Ch. 9's Noon News.

Asked where she would put her garbage, she replied, "In the back yard we've all got large back yards and if it comes down, in the front yard."

A few communities, such as Oak Park and Geneva, enlisted public works crews in municipal vehicles to take over from the private haulers. In Winnetka, village workers already pick up residents' garbage, so the walkout didn't affect the North Shore suburb.

About 3,300 members of Teamsters Locals 731 and 301 walked off the job early Wednesday after their five-year contract expired.

Negotiations resumed this morning in Countryside between the union and the Chicago Area Refuse Haulers Association, representing 16 of the area's largest waste-removal contractors, but the two sides reportedly remained far apart over issues of wages and benefits.

Waste haulers have said they would have managers and non-union personnel pick up refuse only from hospitals and airports.

BFI Waste Services, though a member of the Refuse Haulers Association, is continuing to pick up in Naperville, said Director of Public Works Ed Gifford.

"Trash is not piling up in Naperville," Gifford said. "BFI was eager to pick up. We are a big contract for them. I think most of their people are not of Local 731. If they can find a way for them to work and man the vehicles, they did."

Naperville's distance from Chicago also helped, he added.

While residents were advised pick-ups could run a day behind schedule, they were told not to change their habits. BFI was expected to return to its regular schedule next week, Gifford said.

Many Chicago residents were not affected, as the city's Department of Streets and Sanitation picks up trash from single-family homes and apartment buildings of four units or less. The strike did hit residential high rises and commercial, institutional and industrial concerns.

Mayor Richard Daley has indicated a hands-off attitude toward the labor dispute. But it was unknown if city officials would remain aloof if the walkout lasted into the weekend and trash started accumulating outside Wrigley Field, where the Cubs return Friday for the third game of their National League Division playoffs with the Atlanta Braves.

Meanwhile, Streets and Sanitation put out word its Dumpster Task Force would be "mindful that the overflowing dumpsters that would normally merit tickets could be commonplace." Inspectors instead will focus on things within business owners' control, like pest control, safe food temperatures and keeping utensils and food preparation surfaces sanitary, said department spokesman Matt Smith.

WGN-Ch. 9, freelance writer Jennifer Taylor and Tribune wires contributed to this story.