About 100 trash collectors for the District and Prince George’s County returned to work Monday, ending their two-week strike against Waste Management Inc.
Work resumed after the firm and the collectors union reached agreement on wages and proposed changes to the workers’ pension plan.
Waste Management has service contracts with several towns in Prince George’s County and apartment complexes in the District, as well as large chain grocery stores and other businesses in both jurisdictions.
About 100 employees of the Temple Hills-based firm had been working without a contract since November. When the workers went on strike, union officials and Waste Management had been at an impasse over the company’s attempts to reduce some workers’ wages and switch from a pension plan to a 401(k), union officials said.
The 401(k) would not have included an employer contribution as the pension plan does.
Waste Management and union officials eventually agreed to retention of the pension plan and modest pay increases, said Leigh Strope, a spokeswoman for the International Brotherhood of Teamsters.
Waste Management spokeswoman Lisa Kardell said that to retain the pension, union officials agreed to a freeze on the employer contribution at the current rate for two years and to forgo any wage increases for one year.
Union members ratified the three-year contract Saturday, Strope said.
More than 100 Waste Management workers in New York remained on strike Monday.
