Update: New York recycling facility employees to vote on unionization

Employees of the Sims Municipal Recycling facility in New York City are threatening to strike after accusing the company of harassment campaign, a report by the New York Daily News says. Most of the 70 workers have signed to join local union Teamsters Local 210.

After signing to join the union, workers allege the company offered improved benefits to those who opposed the union, threatened workers who supported the union, gave more difficult jobs to those who supported the union and sent an employee home for supporting the union, the report says.

Sims has a $1.5 billion contract to process nearly all the city’s residential metal, glass and plastic and half of its paper recycling. According to the report, the city council has held a hearing on the case.

In a separate report by the New York Daily News, Sanitation Department Commissioner Kathryn Garcia says that Sims would pay liquidation damages if workers went on strike and the company could not fulfill its contract requirements.

City officials are preparing to use other sanitation workers to fill any gaps a strike may cause, but many of the city’s other site are organized by the same union, which does not permit union workers to cross picket lines, the report says.

Sims says in a statement that workers should vote on unionization first and will respect the outcome of the vote on union representation, the report says, and claimed it went through several union contract negotiations before in the New York/New Jersey metro region.

Update: Teamsters Local 210 announced it had reached an agreement with Sims Municipal Recycling on an expedited path to union recognition at its Sunset Park facility. The signed agreement sets an election for March 3, 20017, and commits Sims to remain neutral. The agreement will be enforced by an independent arbitrator.

The agreement stipulates that Sims will not attempt to influence the vote through any “speeches, one-on-one meetings, distribution of literature, organized get-out-the-vote campaigns or other activities intended to influence the free choice of the employees.” The company also agreed to allow workers to wear stickers expressing their position and to allow union organizers access to the facility.