90 Percent Of LA's Trash Drivers Back On The Job
LOS ANGELES (CBSLA.com) — An estimated 90 percent of Los Angeles sanitation drivers were back on the job Friday, playing catch-up in collecting trash left over the past two days during a work stoppage.
Over the past two days, hundreds of sanitation workers have failed to show up for work, creating a backup of trash containers throughout the city, officials with the city's Bureau of Sanitation said. On Wednesday, only about 40 percent of the workforce came to work, but on Thursday, that number rose to about 80 percent.
Workers have been concentrating on picking up black waste containers holding solid waste, but with a more workers on the job Friday, they should be able to collect all the leftover black bins and the backed up blue recycling bins and green yard waste containers, Sanitation Bureau spokeswoman Tonya Durell said.
"Today, L.A. sanitation staffing is just below 90 percent, which will allow us to operate at nearly standard levels," a department statement reads. "We will completely catch up tomorrow, Saturday, in all of our collection services. With over 80 percent of the drivers reporting for duty yesterday, all black solid waste bins were collected and some of the green and blue bins left from Wednesday."
Residents were being asked to leave out their bins until they have been collected.
The city's trash truck drivers belong to the SEIU Local 721, which says its members began voting Tuesday night to decide whether they will go on strike. The union will not say when the voting will be completed.
The trash driver work stoppage was not a "union-sanctioned activity," union officials said.
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