Photo: Emma Friedman/WBZ NewsRadio
Updated 9/19/25 3:07 p.m.
BOSTON (WBZ NewsRadio) — Republic Services and Teamsters Local 25 announced Friday they had reached a deal, ending a months-long trash strike in Massachusetts.
In a joint statement, the trash collection company and union said they had reached a 5-year collective bargaining agreement, and thanked the public for its "patience during this service interruption" and apologized "for the inconvenience it has caused."
Unionized trash workers, who had been on strike since July 1, had asked for higher wages and better benefits.
“We look forward to our employees returning to work on Monday and quickly resuming normal operations,” Republic Services Market Vice President Kurt Lavery said. “We will work tirelessly to restore our customers’ trust.”
“During the strike we never lost hope that we would reach an agreement that would benefit our members. We are now ready to return to work and provide the best service possible to Republic’s customers," Local 25 President Tom Mari said.
In a separate statement, Mari said he was proud of the unionized workers, saying they "stood strong for 82 days to send a message across the country."
"Never once did they waiver in their commitment to remain on strike until they got what they deserved," Mari said. "This is an extremely strong contract, and our members are looking forward to going back to work Monday, and back into the communities they service. Thank you to the people who live in the affected communities who openly urged Republic to provide its employees with the contract that represents the hard work the employees perform every day. Sticking together and never uncertain of their objective, these Teamsters won the contract they fought for and deserve."
Mari also thanked Gov. Maura Healey and other politicians who supported workers during the strike. According to a press release sent out by the union, Healey said she was "glad" an agreement had been reached and that workers can "now return to work with the wages and benefits they deserve."
More than a dozen communities were affected by the strike, including Boston and Malden. Boston Mayor Michelle Wu told WBZ NewsRadio "it's wonderful for the community when the work that needs to happen is done by workers who have fair working conditions, have the benefits, and the compensation that makes it possible for them also to take care of their own families. So, this is a win-win and we're really relieved that there's finally resolution here."
In a Facebook post Friday, the city of Malden said that "returning drivers will be required to completely mandatory retraining," and that delays are still expected next week but would "stabilize the following week."
Some Malden residents told WBZ NewsRadio they were happy to hear a deal had been reached. "It was a long strike and trash was piling up. It was horrible," Scott from Malden said.
Another resident, Mark, said the excess of trash was "unhealthy" and he had seen a rat outside during the day.
"I just hope that the streets get cleaned and the environment can be safe without trash, which was flying around," Cecilia, also from Malden, said.
WBZ NewsRadio's Madison Rogers (@madisonwbz) reports.