Following Monday's end of a four-week sanitation worker strike, the city of Chula Vista Tuesday released a telephone number and email address for multi-family residences to report overflowing trash.
The information is intended only for multi-family units experiencing an overflow of trash around bins.
Property managers can provide their name, telephone number and location by calling 619-409-5977 or emailing trashservices@chulavistaca.gov.
RELATED: Sanitation workers agree to new contract with Republic Services, ending strike
City staff or contractors will be dispatched to assist in cleaning up trash piles as soon as possible, a statement from the city said.
Following the Chula Vista City Council ratification on Saturday of the city manager's local emergency declaration on Jan. 12, city crews have picked up more than 100,000 pounds of trash and serviced over 200 multi-family units.
"We appreciate our city employees from Public Works, Environmental Services and Park Rangers who have gone above and beyond to help keep our city clean since the local emergency was declared," said City Manager Maria V. Kachadoorian. "Their efforts will continue through the end of the week to streamline Republic Services' return to normal operations."
RELATED: Overflowing trash leads to public health emergency in Chula Vista
To report trash overflow at residential or commercial properties, call Republic Services at 619-421-9400.
Unionized sanitation workers voted 137-70 on Monday to end their strike with private garbage hauler Republic Services.
The sanitation workers represented by Teamsters Local 542 voted "reluctantly" to end the strike just hours before an ultimatum from San Diego Mayor Todd Gloria would have compelled Republic to "meet their obligations under their franchise agreement."
"I join all San Diegans in being deeply relieved that Republic Services and their workers have reached an agreement, ending the month-long strike," Gloria said. "I look forward to Republic's resumption of regular trash and recycle pickup for its routes within the city of San Diego tomorrow."
Union leaders said the agreement provides for wage increases and some improvements to health insurance, but falls short of what Republic Services workers were fighting for.
"As our members return to work to begin cleaning up the mess Republic has made in our communities, we know that this has been a wake-up call for cities that use private waste haulers," Jaime Vasquez, secretary-treasurer of Teamsters Local 542, said in a statement. "Sanitation workers put their lives on the line every day to protect the public health, doing the sixth-most deadly job in America.
"This is an essential public service and we will work with every relevant municipality to ensure they have the strongest provisions in their contracts with private waste haulers to ensure cities can hold these companies accountable," he said.
Sanitation services resumed Tuesday -- good news for neighborhoods where trash, recycling and yard debris have been piling up for weeks, particularly at multi-family residences.
San Diego's Environmental Services Department provides waste collection to single-family residences, but not businesses, multi-family residences and private streets in the city. Those are serviced by private franchise waste haulers including Republic Services.
Members of the union voted to strike on Dec. 13 following the expiration of their contract at the end of November.
On Sunday, Republic gave the striking workers its "last, best and final offer that includes significant increases in wages and benefits in addition to other enhancements to our employees' total compensation packages," according to a statement from the company.
The offer also included a "new financial incentive for employees tied to ratification and agreement by the union."
"The communities of San Diego and Chula Vista have paid the price of the union's approach, and we continue to do everything in our power to move the process forward," a Republic statement released Sunday read.
Gloria said last week San Diego was considering fines, coming after the company's performance bond and "asking the City Council for authorization to seek an injunction to force compliance with terms of the agreement, which include weekly pickup and recycling of green and solid waste," if an agreement wasn't reached and services didn't resume.
The option to suspend or terminate the city's franchise agreement with Republic was also a possibility, the mayor said.
Following Chula Vista's health emergency declaration, the city would have been able to hire contractors to collect the refuse and bill Republic Services.
"Folks have suffered and they’re angry," said Jill Galvez, Chula Vista District 2 councilmember adding that she's fighting for reimbursement for the residents and the city. "It’s not been cheap and we will be billing Republic Services for every dollar that we spent collecting all of this supplemental trash and we will also be fining and penalizing Republic according to schedule B of our contract which allows us to fine them for trash that has remained uncollected for more than 24 hours," said Galvez.
Galvez donated $350 to the employees' GoFundMe account that was set up to help support their families, symbolic of the amount employees earned per week during the strike. She hopes others will donate too, especially since the employees will not get back pay. The employees recently voted to give that money to a coworker who suffered a heart attack from the stress endured from the strike and is in I.C.U..
"I am glad that the strike has been settled and understand the difficult position of sanitation workers as they fought for dignity and respect," Chula Vista Mayor Mary Casillas Salas said in a statement. "I am also so proud of our city crews for stepping up and pivoting from their normal duties to make sure our city gets cleaned up. Thank you to all our residents for their patience through this difficult and unprecedented situation."
Dohney Castillo, a Republic driver said he hopes the community now sees them in a new light after the strike, "I’m hoping that the community sees what it is that we do, we do it with pride, they don’t just see it as a stinky trash truck coming through their neighborhood, that they see the human part of it, the people that are inside."
To donate to their GoFundMe account click here: Sanitation Workers Fund
