Truck drivers, equipment operators and garbage sorters will be back to work today at the Sunnyvale recycling and waste processing station after a five-day strike.
Bob Morales, president of Teamsters Local 350, which represents the drivers and equipment operators, sent a letter Tuesday to the station's general manager to say the strike was over -- thanks to the city's move last week to force the station operator to pay a state-determined higher wage to the workers.
``We accomplished what we needed to,'' Morales said.
The station is a joint project, built by Sunnyvale, Mountain View and Palo Alto. It takes in 1,500 tons of garbage every day and sorts the waste for recyclables.
The workers walked out last week in a longstanding dispute over benefits and wages, particularly those paid to the sorters.
Sunnyvale's contract with GreenTeam/Zanker, the station operator, requires it to pay employees prevailing wages as determined by the state Department of Industrial Relations.
The majority of the station's employees are garbage sorters, who have been paid $8 an hour. The state's prevailing wage for garbage sorters is $13.
The sorters voted 18 months ago to join the union that already represents drivers and equipment operators, but the sorters do not yet have a contract with GreenTeam/Zanker.
Drivers and equipment operators have been working with expired contracts, and they want better health benefits.
Late last week, city officials told GreenTeam/Zanker that it must submit by Friday a plan to pay a higher wage to the sorters or face a possible breach of contract.
``The city has made it clear that a new contractor will be brought in to do the work if you do not comply,'' Morales said in a letter sent Monday to station manager Todd Storti. ``This, of course, will greatly improve our chances of completing negotiations for a collective bargaining agreement.''
Storti did not return a call for comment Tuesday morning.
Morales also said he had filed unfair labor practices complaints against GreenTeam/Zanker with the National Labor Relations Board.
Sunnyvale spokesman John Pilger said the city was ``pleased to see the end of the labor action.'' Garbage collection had not been disrupted, he said, because management stepped in to fill in for striking workers.
Pilger would not comment on the impending deadline the city has set for GreenTeam/Zanker.
Sunnyvale and Mountain View send all their garbage to the station and earn back 25 percent of revenue from recycled materials. Palo Alto keeps its curbside recycling goods and sends only its general waste to the station. - Mercury News