Disappointed with your Negotiations
Dear Editor,
The following letter was originally sent to the CEO of Republic Services from the Revere City Council addressing their concerns with the treatment of their employees within the City of Revere.
“Dear Mr. Vander Ark,
We are writing to you as the elected representatives of the City of Revere, Massachusetts where Republic Services houses one of its facilities. Our city of over 60,000, sits just outside of our state’s capital and has historically been a working class city. Home to the country’s first public beach, we pride ourselves on the public services and spaces and the private partnerships that exist here. However, of late, we are wholefully disappointed that a company, your company, which functions within our jurisdiction has turned its back on the blue collar values that make our city great.
This august body has been paying close attention to the contract negotiations between your company and your workers, represented by Teamster’s Local 25. Many of us have walked the strike line with them in the past few weeks and heard loud and clear some of their concerns, which we share, and what you are offering at the table: health insurance, some of the lowest wages in the waste management industry.
The inequitable conditions that your negotiation team has forced on workers through these contract negotiations has now led to an increasingly alarming public health concern as hospital and restaurant dumpsters overflow, rodents over take streets across Eastern, Massachusetts, and homes in the region go days, even weeks with-out waste pick up.
Now, these issues may not mean much to you, but for us here in the City of Revere and to the members of Teamsters Local 25, resolving these issues is about dignity in the workplace and for our community.
We urge you to respect the work and the dignity of your workers and return to the table prepared to do right by the hardworking members of Local 25 and the communities they serve and settle this contract immediately by addressing these issues.
Sincerely,
Council President, Marc Silvestri Ward 4 Councilor, Paul Argenzio
Ward 3 Councilor, Anthony Cogliandro Ward 6 Councilor, Chris Giannino
Ward 5 Councilor, Angela Guarino-Sawaya Councillor At-Large, Robert Haas III Councilor At-Large, Juan Pablo Jaramillo Councilor At-Large, Michelle Kelley Ward 1 Councilor,
