The two sides met for several hours on Friday but failed to come to an agreement that would end the trash strike that began on July 1, 2025. Some communities impacted by the strike are seeking damages and have threatened to end the contract with the trash contractor.
The negotiations between Republic Services and Teamsters Local 25 took place with the assistance of federal mediation. The two sides met for 9.5 hours, according to a statement from Teamsters Local 25, and negotiations will resume on Tuesday, July 15.
Local 25 President Tom Mari said some movement was made in proposed wages, but they did not reach the same figures that are being paid to Capitol Waste Services.
“While Republic added some money to its offer, it still fell several dollars short of the wages currently being paid to Capitol employees,” Mari said. “We tried everything to get a settlement. We even proposed a delay in implementing our health insurance proposal to replace the inferior company health insurance which would have been a savings to the company, but it was to no avail.”
The Teamsters have also extended their picket lines with Republic to California and Washington State. According to the Teamsters “Approximately, 4,000 Teamsters nation-wide are refusing to report to work until Republic bargains fair and equitable contracts in locations across the country.”
Communities Seek Compensation
From July 1 to July 6 Watertown did not have trash or recycling collection. Beginning July 7, the replacement crews began picking up trash, but were not able to do the full route each day. On Saturdya, crews continued to pick up trash at homes that had not had a pickup during the week.
On Tuesday, Deputy City Manager Emily Monae said Watertown will seek compensation from Republic for the lack of full trash and recycling collection services.
“When this when indications of a strike first started in June, Republic assured us that if there was a strike, they had backup workers ready to go to continue the regular provision of service,” Monae told the City Council. “Unfortunately, it turned out that they only had enough backup staff to continue offering services to small towns, like Lynnfield and Marblehead, and it ended up taking several days to mobilize to get Watertown to a more normal set of operations.”
Lynnfield was one of two communities to send letters to Republic, according to NBC Boston 10, saying they would seek “liquidated damages” for the lack of service, and Lynnfield said they may seek to terminate the contract if Republic has “not fully resumed proper performance under the agreement.”
North Reading’s attorney said that town wants Republic to cover the costs to that town due to the “nonperformance of your clear obligations under the contract,” including pickup and off site collections, overtime, legal fees, and additional contracted services.
The noted that Republic did not meet the minimum number of trash and/or recycling customers collected, 2,189, on July 8. The North Reading contract also calls for a liquidated damages of $100 for each such instance. The letter says, in part: “This figure does not take into account the fact that many of the affected households experienced multiple days’ delay in the collection of either or both trash and recycling, which further compounds this number.”