Time for talking in good faith as negotiation game goes sour
Editor, The Times:
The strike at Waste Management is one more example of what happens when management treats the contract negotiations as a game rather than as a debate. [“Garbage strike puts pickup in jeopardy,” page one, April 22].
This is what happens when the game must be won rather than reaching a compromise so that everyone is respected and satisfied —when the work force that actually touches and delivers the product is treated like a liability to be minimized rather than an asset to be nourished.
It always comes down to a question of attitude and Waste Management has proved that its deeds do not match its words. Instead of spinning the facts for the media, company management needs to start working to understand how value is added to their product.
The various city and county jurisdictions where the trash will not be picked up need to immediately impose the fines, allowed under their respective contracts, so that Waste Management will sit back down at the bargaining table and negotiate in good faith.
— Hank Thomas, Issaquah
Forget the garbage truck, hop onto the unemployment bandwagon
Waste Management is on strike. I just cannot believe the audacity and greed of unions and their members in demanding more money and more benefits at a time when their fellow citizens are losing their jobs and their homes.
If they get more money and benefits, the employer will merely pass the cost on to the rest of us, who cannot afford to pay more.
With so many unemployed and seeking employment, it is time to break the unions by hiring qualified nonunion applicants now. The unions can take what the company is offering, or their members can look for other employment —just like the rest of us.
— Pauline Cornelius, Ollala