By Mike H., Matt K., Steve O., and Bruce V.
The recycling collection workers at the Ecology Center's Curbside Recycling Program have long sparred with management over working conditions. The IWW has represented this shop since 1989. On Monday, September 10, 2007, the recyclers held a stop work meeting and refused to move their equipment until their demands were met.
The latest struggle occurred when the City of Berkeley added waste collection routes to their collection program. The City of Berkeley waste collection workers are employed directly by the city and represented by a SEIU 790, a "Change to Win" business union. The Ecology Center is operated as an independent non-profit which receives city money to help fund its recycling program.
Unlike many cities that outsource their municipal operations to private entities and non-profits (often to reduce operating costs and weaken labor union solidarity), the Berkeley Ecology Center has a unique relationship with the City of Berkeley. The Ecology Center created the city's curbside recycling program long before such programs were standard services.
Apparently, the contract with the city requires the Ecology Center to match their collection routes with the city's, even though the programs are mostly separate from each other. Prior to the city's change, the recyclers worked seven routes daily, three of which were duo-routes (having two workers per truck) and the remainder were solo.
Ecology Center management proposed adding an additional route, but making each of the eight routes solo routes. The Ecology Center recyclers have a route committee system, described in the union contract, though Management still has the official power to make the changes. While the union members on the route committee signed off on the changes, they were not aware of how the changes would affect the work once put into practice.
After the first week of the change, it was clear that the eight solo-route plan was universally unpopular among the union workers. The union recyclers met on Saturday, September 8, 2007, along with organizers from the Bay Area IWW branch and some rank & file workers from the city waste collection program. They agreed that they preferred to retain the duo routes.
On Monday, the crew refused to operate their trucks until Management agreed to restore the three duo routes. After it was clear that no trucks would move until the union's demands were addressed, Daniel Maher, the operations manager, agreed to consider alternatives to the new, eight-solo route plan. The union crew demanded three duo routes and five solo routes. Maher rejected this plan and asked the crew to "vote" on an alternative.
At first, Mr. Maher tried to single out shop steward, Mike Hudgins, and divide the crew, but this tactic didn't work. The crew was adamant about their demands and the strongest voices were those recyclers with the lowest seniority.
One hour later, the union crew revealed that their "vote" was to stand firm by their demands. Mr. Maher, having encouraged the crew to vote on an alternative decided that democracy was only acceptable if the outcome was acceptable to his interests and asked the crew to "vote" again! So the union crew repeated the process. One hour later, the results were still the same! It was obvious that the union wouldn't budge!
By Fellow Worker Bruce Valde. 
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Disclaimer - the following editorial is not by a member of the IWW, nor do they necessarily agree with or endorse our organization. The editorial is posted here because it closely matches the perspective of many IWW members and the Preamble to the IWW Constitution. It also affects IWW members in Industrial Union 670 directly.
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Four years ago the Bay Area IWW was contacted byworkers at the East Bay Depot for Creative Reuse in Oakland. They had numerous grievances and decided union membership would be a way to bring their concerns to management. Eventually the workers voted unanimously for the IWW.