Watertown will not be joining the six communities seeking legal action against Republic Services for costs incurred from the trash strike. However, City Manger George Proakis sent a letter to Republic and Teamsters Local 25 urging them to get back to the bargaining table and reach a contract agreement.
On Friday, the strike reached its 18th day. The two sides met on Tuesday without reaching a deal and the next date has not been announced. In Watertown trash and recycling has been collected by replacement crews and this week the City added an additional outside contractor to help with pickups.
On Thursday, a group of six communities — Beverly, Gloucester, Malden, Peabody, Danvers and Canton — filed legal action against Republic seeking relief for public health problems arising from the lack of trash collection, or delayed pickups.
In a statement, Proakis said Watertown would not be joining the legal action, for now.
“At this time, Watertown has determined not to join this lawsuit, but is instead focusing a variety of timely, practical and effective actions to protect the public health and safety of our residents and their need for trash and recycling services,” Proakis said.
Watertown has been impacted by the strike, receiving no pickups for four days, but since then Republic has received trash and recycling service on a “limited basis” and it has supplemented that with a drop-off location and additional recycling pickups.
Proakis noted that each community impacted by the strike has different contract language with Republic, including the financial penalties for missed pickups and performance failures.
“Other communities continue to struggle with more limited service from Republic, and in some cases going over 15 days without any recycling service happening in their City or Town,” Proakis said. “While certainly experiencing significant impacts, Watertown is not experiencing the same service issues as some other communities.”
He went on to say: “While some of our colleague communities feel the need to take legal action on public health grounds, at this time we are focused on pursuing the liquidated damages provisions in our contract and will be using those funds to finance alternative services. This is allowing us to run our drop-off center and ensure that there will be adequate options for trash and recycling with extra pickups as needed.”
The City will keep the option of legal action open, Proakis said.
“We will, of course, monitor the legal efforts and continue to work with other communities as well as our own attorneys to protect the City’s interests, and preserve our right to revisit this issue as the circumstances require,” he said. “We will remain in contact with other communities and revisit the situation as often as necessary to ensure the financial and public health interests of our community are protected, and are prepared to take any and all action necessary to do so. Our foremost interest is in protecting the welfare of Watertown residents as effectively as possible, and we feel that our actions to date are accomplishing this goal.”
Watertown’s Letter to Sides in Trash Strike
On July 17, Proakis sent a letter to Dan Higgins, Area Manager of Municipal Sales at Republic Services, and Bridget Quinn, Legislative Director for Teamsters Joint Council 10 New England urging the two sides to return to negotiations and reach an agreement, adding that “The residents of Watertown deserve better.”
See the letter below:
Dear Mr. Higgins (of Republic) and Ms. Quinn (of Teamsters 25),
(cc: Watertown City Council, Watertown News, Watertown Cable TV, Watertown City Council)
I am writing to you as the City Manager of Watertown, Massachusetts, where we continue to be impacted by the ongoing Teamsters strike against Republic Services. Republic holds our municipal contract for trash, recycling, and yard waste collection, in addition to servicing many private clients throughout the city. While the City of Watertown is not a party to this labor dispute, I feel compelled to express my deep concern that there appears to be little to no progress toward a resolution.
Until June 30, 2025, we had a productive and positive working relationship with Republic. I signed a contract extension for Watertown based on the strong performance of Republic’s team and the quality of service our residents received. Our day-to-day contact, Shane Reed —a union member—has consistently demonstrated professionalism, responsiveness, and dedication to our community.
Since July 1, however, Republic has been attempting to fulfill its obligations with replacement workers. While we appreciate the efforts, and the regular updates from Republic, the substitute workforce has not been able to consistently meet the standards outlined in our agreement. Despite early promises that we would see no disruption in services, the current staffing and equipment levels are simply not sufficient to match the service levels provided by the regular unionized team. This has created significant costs for Watertown that we intend to pursue from Republic via the liquidated damages clause of our contract.
I fully understand that labor disputes are a reality and can be complex. I oversee more than 350 unionized employees in Watertown, including many members of Teamsters Local 25, and I value the importance of a respectful and communicative labor-management relationship. That’s precisely why I am so frustrated by what appears to be a lack of regular meaningful dialogue in this case.
On behalf of the residents of Watertown, I need to understand: Why are negotiations not actively taking place more than once every few days? Why were both sides not at the table yesterday or today? The residents of Watertown deserve better. I urge both parties to return to the table immediately, and work in good faith to reach a resolution.
Sincerely,
George Proakis
City Manager, Watertown, MA