In this blogcast, Burnes Center for Social Change Senior Fellow Seth Harris is joined by Victor Mineros and Kathy Torres to discuss the nationwide strike by the International Brotherhood of Teamsters against Republic Services, which is a solid waste management company that collects and disposes of garbage and recycling in cities across the U.S.
Watch now to learn more about the status of the strike, the kind of work the Teamsters members at Republic Services perform, the biggest issues in the negotiations, and how we can expect this strike to be resolved. Also discussed are some of the strategies the Teamsters have used in this strike to bring pressure on Republic Services to agree to their members’ bargaining demands, and how the public’s reaction to a long-lasting garbage strike had influenced those strategies.
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Victor Mineros is the Director of the International Brotherhood of Teamsters' Solid Waste and Recycling Division. He got his start with the Teamsters as a rank-and-file UPS package car driver in Los Angeles. He served as a business agent and organizer for Teamsters Local 396 and was appointed an International Representative for the Teamsters Solid Waste and Recycling Division, which is the Teamsters Division he now leads as the Director.
Kathy Torres is a Teamsters Local 179 member who has been employed by Republic Services in Ottawa, Illinois, for a year. She is a Class A Driver who has been on strike for three weeks. Kathy is originally from the South Side of Chicago and currently resides in Joliet, Illinois.
