Garbage strike reaches two-month mark with little movement, and no end in sight

https://www.bostonglobe.com/2025/08/31/business/republic-services-teamsters-strike-gloucester-malden/

By Stella Tannenbaum Globe Correspondent,Updated August 31, 2025, 6:00 a.m.

How did thousands of Greater Boston residents spend their summer? Waiting for their trash and recycling to get picked up.

The Teamsters strike against waste management company Republic Services began just before the Fourth of July and has now stretched to Labor Day, with no end in sight. Residents in 14 communities that contract with Republic may yet be singing, “All I want for Christmas is my recycling bins emptied.”

The company and the union returned to the bargaining table Thursday for the first time since July 18, but the meeting ended the same way: without an agreement and with each side blaming the other for the impasse.

A Republic spokesperson said in a statement that the Teamsters rejected a “strong offer” from the company at the meeting.

FULL story at link above.


Overflowing recycling bins sit on the curb of Pearl Street in Malden in July. Malden is one of several municipalities dealing with the fallout of the Republic Services worker strike, which has dragged on for nearly two months.Ben Pennington/for The Boston Globe