RENTON, Wash. – Garbage is piling up across Renton, spilling out of dumpsters into streets, filling downtown alleys with foul smells and attracting bugs—sparking health concerns from residents. The cause? A nationwide labor strike against Republic Services that has now reached the Puget Sound.
Republic Services sanitation workers have walked off the job in solidarity with fellow Teamsters who first initiated the strike in Boston. Local workers say they won’t return until the company negotiates a new agreement with its union employees.
Residents like Abby Klinkenberg, who works at a physical therapy practice downtown, are seeing the effects firsthand.
“There’s a lot of flies. Fruit flies. Rats,” she said. “There’s garbage overflowing the trashcans.”…