photo by: Nick Krug

City of Lawrence solid waste division workers empty containers into the back of a trash truck in this file photo from December 2009.

Updated at 4:22 p.m. Thursday

The City of Lawrence’s solid waste employees have voted overwhelmingly to unionize, and union leaders say that efforts to improve wages and working conditions are forthcoming.

In a news release Thursday morning, the city clerk’s office reported that the International Brotherhood of Teamsters Local Union No. 696 has been elected to be the recognized employee organization for the solid waste employee group. Sixty-six of the city’s 71 solid waste workers voted, with all but one of those workers voting to be represented by the Teamsters, according to information city spokesman Porter Arneill subsequently provided the Journal-World.

Matt Hall, secretary-treasurer and business agent for the Teamsters, told the Journal-World that he thinks the vote says a lot about workers and their concerns about pay and working conditions.

“I think that it shows the solidarity and the camaraderie of the workers out there, that they were able to come together and to get this done,” Hall said. “And I think it shows there are issues at solid waste that have needed to be addressed for a long time.”

In addition to concerns about their wages, Hall said that the sanitation workers have multiple concerns about working conditions, such as vacations and work rules about routes, safety and equipment. He said that city representatives and the Teamsters would begin negotiating a contract regarding noneconomic working conditions within 90 days, and that wages would be addressed during negotiations next year, ahead of the City Commission’s annual budget discussions.

In a news release from the Teamsters, longtime workers said that their concerns had been building for years. Shaun Elston, a solid waste driver with the city for nearly 20 years, said in the release that the election was a huge win and workers were ready to continue that momentum as they negotiate a contract.

“Morale has been going down for years,” Elston said. “As Teamsters, we can hold management accountable and get our pay back to where it needs to be.”

Rashaad Marshall, a solid waste driver who also served as a leading member of the union organizing committee, said in the release that he and his coworkers came together and worked as a team throughout the campaign to unionize.

“We are proud of what we accomplished today and look forward to solidifying our strength at the bargaining table,” Marshall said. “Together, we will let the city know that when workers win respect, the entire community benefits.”

The city’s solid waste workers, whose duties include handling of trash, recycling and yard waste, are the third city employee group to unionize, joining the police and fire and medical workers.

The petition to unionize from the solid waste workers came after the Teamsters initiated changes to the city’s resolution governing employee unions and the unionization process. Those changes, approved by the City Commission in July, included increasing the number of potential employee bargaining groups from four to six and amending the voting threshold to unionize from 50% of all employees in a group to 50% of votes cast as long as more than half of the bargaining group votes, among other changes.

Hall previously told the commission that the former requirements created barriers to unionization for city workers. He said Thursday that additional work groups are interested in unionizing, and details about those efforts would be publicized later in that process.

The city said in the release that staff would work with the solid waste group and Teamsters Local 696 on plans moving forward.