Union, Republic Services negotiating disputes

Alana Roberts

Monday, Aug. 30, 2004 | 10:42 a.m.

A leader of Teamsters Local 631, which represents about 950 workers at waste hauler Republic Services of Southern Nevada, said the union is working to settle several legal disputes with the company.

Ed Burke, secretary-treasurer of Local 631, said five lawsuits and a complaint with the National Labor Relations Board are expected to be settled. "We've been meeting with the company, they've been more than willing to work with the union to get these problems (settled)," Burke said.

The union and the company have been tangled in five federal lawsuits, most of which center around disputed arbitrators' decisions over terminations, along with a dispute filed with the NLRB. Two of those lawsuits have been appealed to the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.

The NLRB complaint was set for a June 10 hearing before an administrative law judge, however that has been indefinitely postponed.

In one of the lawsuits, a federal judge ruled July 26 in favor of the company's implementation of a zero-tolerance drug policy, which resulted in the terminations of two Republic Services workers. The union argued the company made a practice of allowing workers to undergo rehabilitation and be reinstated and should be forced to continue that practice.

Although the judge ruled in favor of the company, Burke said the company has agreed to rehire the workers named in the suit.

Lee Haney, a spokeswoman for Republic Services, confirmed that company officials are working with the union to resolve the legal disputes.

The union announced it was launching a public awareness campaign about its disputes with Republic Services leaders at a news conference in June. Burke said last week that there are no future plans for demonstrations against the company.

He said the company's chief operating officer, Mike Cordesman, and the company's vice president of labor relations, Ken Baylor, have met with local union leaders, union members and management.

"He's (Cordesman) been out here a couple of weeks and he's been working his butt off. He had his staff type a letter that he posted at all of the locations with his phone number on it," Burke said.

When asked whether former Republic Services of Southern Nevada Area President Stephen Kalish's resignation in late June had anything to do with the company's efforts to resolve its disputes with the union, Burke said he hadn't heard any confirmation of that from the company. However, he said Kalish was the source of many of the union's disputes with the company and that he believes the resignation was related.

"The union certainly believes he was part of the problem. He certainly didn't have any desire to discuss or resolve issues or deal with any of the problems those employees had out there. It would seem that with some of the more recent events, it certainly had something to do with Steve Kalish," Burke said.

Haney said she wasn't sure why Kalish resigned from the company. Will Flower, a company spokesman, said previously that Kalish faxed a letter of resignation in which he cited personal reasons for his decision. Kalish could not be reached for comment.