Still waiting for garbage pickup in Durham? Here’s the latest on strike, collections.

City of Durham sanitation workers will end a six-day walkout and resume picking up garbage Tuesday, they announced Monday.

Meanwhile, the city said late Monday afternoon that 64 of 88 routes were completed last week and over the weekend; 24 routes were either partly collected or were not collected and are a “high priority” through Tuesday.

At a rally Monday, workers said management has been “threatening” them with leave without pay to get them back to work.

The city paid temporary contract workers $11,055 to help fill in over the weekend, city spokesperson Beverly Thompson said in an email to The News & Observer.

“While we hope workers continue to return to the job, as more did today, we must be prepared to ensure that garbage continues to be picked up by having additional contractors when we need them,” Thompson wrote. “It will continue as long as needed to pick up garbage in our community.”

The workers have demanded an immediate $5,000 bonus, as well as an increase in the minimum wage for city employees to $25 per hour next fiscal year. For solid waste collectors, they want at least $28 per hour; for heavy equipment operators, at least $35 per hour.

“We are not getting paid for the hazardous work that we do,” solid waste operator Herman Moore, a Durham City Workers Union UE150 member, said in a news release.

“The Solid Waste department has threatened us with leave without pay. We don’t think that is fair,” he continued. “We are going to do what we have to do to get our pay, because we deserve it. Those of us that have sick leave, we should be able to use it.”

A city job posting for solid waste technician lists pay between $40,099 and $61,720, The N&O has reported. That’s about $19 to $30 an hour

The department has 83 front-line collection positions for garbage, recycling, yard waste and bulky item collections, Thompson’s email stated. As of Monday, nine (11%) of those positions were vacant: three drivers and six collectors.

Bonus would not raise taxes, union says

Union organizer Dante Strobino says the city has enough money available to pay the one-time bonus, costing under $10 million, without raising taxes.

The N&O reported last week that the city’s general fund has about $32 million more in reserves than it needs to have on hand. With $14 million of that allocated in this year’s fiscal budget, there’s about $18 million to work with.

The workers and their supporters plan to rally at 7 p.m. Monday in Durham City Hall and return there Sept. 18 when the City Council plans to discuss their demands and could vote on the bonus. Last week, City Manager Wanda Page said talk about raises should wait until the budget season begins in January.

On Monday afternoon, The Durham Committee on the Affairs of Black People called for fair compensation for city workers.

“One significant factor in the development of the strike appears to be the very success of our city and this region, which is attracting people from all over the country to move here and has driven up the cost of housing for city employees and other long time residents who want to live in Durham,” the group said in a statement.

“Most members of The Durham Committee on the Affairs of Black People are not compensation experts and do not know all the details of municipal finance,” it continued. “What we do know is that it costs a lot to live in Durham and to support a family here. We therefore respectfully urge city administrators, elected officials and city employees to come together quickly and in good faith to find a solution to this urgent problem that could otherwise wind up hurting the entire Durham community.”

Thompson said in her email that residents should continue to leave their garbage, recycling and yard waste at the curb until it is collected,

This story was originally published September 11, 2023 at 1:40 PM.