After nearly two weeks of disrupted garbage collection across more than two dozen Bay Area cities, Republic Services and striking sanitation workers reached a tentative agreement Friday evening, bringing an end to a labor dispute that left residents with overflowing trash bins and mounting public health concerns.
The strike resolution centers on workers at the Forward Landfill in Manteca, who are represented by Teamsters Local 439. Republic Services employees across the Bay Area had refused to cross picket lines in solidarity with the Manteca workers, according to Local News Matters. Workers returned to their routes Saturday morning, with the company promising to “work hard to catch up with needed recycling and waste collection as quickly as we can.”
#TeamsterStrong…On the strike line this morning with my brothers and sisters out of my home local…Local 25…These @Teamsters are fighting against the white-collar crime syndicate @RepublicService for respectable wages, benefits and working conditions..We’ll hold this line as… pic.twitter.com/9n0NBdZMnN
— Sean M. O’Brien (@TeamsterSOB) July 2, 2025
The Spark That Ignited Regional Disruption
The Bay Area work stoppage began July 8 when approximately 35 workers at Forward Landfill went on strike after contract negotiations broke down. KCRA reports these workers, primarily Hispanic men and women, had unionized within the past year under Teamsters Local 439. The local strike quickly became part of a nationwide labor action that began July 1 in Boston and expanded to affect over 2,000 Republic Services workers across multiple states…