Garbage Strike Delays Trash Pick-Up

Stow residents who are customers of Republic Waste Services may see further delays in their trash pick-up due to striking garbage workers.

Many Stow customers of Republic Waste saw at least one-day delays in their pick-up last week, as the refuse hauler is dealing with a strike that is affecting several of its operations.

A sympathy strike for the company's Youngstown location caused delays and even a work stoppage in some Northeast Ohio communities, our news partner at WEWS Channel 5 reports.

Stow Mayor Sara Drew said Republic officials told the city that pick-up will be delayed, but they promised all service would continue despite the strike.

"We don’t have a contract with Republic, Kimble is our preferred hauler, so there isn’t much we can do," Drew said in an email. "The law department looked into the licensing agreement we have with all our haulers, and there isn’t anything we can do per that agreement."

No one answered the phones at the company's Akron and Massillon offices Friday.

Several Stow residential customers reported a simple one-day delay last week.

"Our pick-up was one day late; recycle was two days late," Vicky Binder wrote on the Stow Patch Facebook page. "I have never (had) any issues with Republic."

Other Stow residents reported longer delays.

"I have had issues for four weeks," Kerry Schweikert Russo said.

The Canton Repository reported that Teamsters Local 92 is honoring picket lines set up by striking colleagues with Teamsters Local 377 in Youngstown.

The local trash haulers are essentially on sympathy strike with workers at Republic's Carbon Limestone landfill outside Youngstown, who are claiming unfair labor practices, the Repository reported.

But some employees and management for the company have crossed picket lines in order to keep local trash service running.

Stow resident Angela English offered this advice on the Stow Patch Facebook page to residents whose garbage cans languish at the curb for a few days.

"Just leave it out," she said.