Our County

The new owners of Sanipac, a Eugene garbage and recycling hauler, say they are preparing to hire permanent replacement workers in the event that their current drivers and mechanics go on strike.

In a classified ad published Thursday in The Register-Guard and in a posting on craigslist, Sanipac said that, because a “labor dispute is imminent,” it wants to hire up to 83 drivers with commercial drivers’ licenses.

“We intend these to be permanent strike replacement positions if this is an economic strike,” the ad reads.

Sanipac is owned by Waste Connections, a garbage-collection company based in Folsom, Calif. Waste Connections bought the Eugene company last summer from shareholders, who include members of the Papé family.

About 100 of the 130 employees represented by Teamsters Local 206 voted last month to authorize a strike if the union and company were unable to come to terms on a new contract. Negotiators for the company and for Teamsters Local 206 are scheduled to resume negotiations Monday with help from a federal mediator.

Teamsters representative Stefan Ostrach said the Sanipac ad was a “scare tactic.”

“We’re putting our energy into preparing for (mediation) and preparing to reach a reasonable settlement with the company rather than posturing and unfairly raising hopes of folks who are unemployed that there are going to be jobs when there aren’t going to be any jobs there,” he said.

If there is a strike, Waste Connections will bring in nonunion workers and managers from its other locations to drive Sanipac trucks, he said.

“They’re not going to put folks out there operating this complicated equipment in our neighborhoods without experience and training,” he said.

Union representatives say Sanipac’s owners have proposed numerous changes to the contract, as well as minimal wage increases and scaled back health benefits.

A representative of Waste Connections did not return a phone message Thursday seeking comment. A company executive said earlier this month that Waste Connections proposed improvements to wage rates and medical benefits.

Three top executives at Sanipac — Lane County’s largest garbage hauling and recycling firm — have resigned. But they all said their departures had nothing to do with the company’s current labor dispute.

Instead, the three longtime executives said, they had become disenchanted with Sanipac’s new owners, California-based Waste Connections.

General Manager Rick Wichmann, Operations Manager Dave Walters and Sales and Marketing Manager Jack Kauble resigned Friday, announcing their departures in an emotional meeting with employees at the business, located in Glenwood.

“There were tears,” Kauble said. “It was not an easy thing.”

Waste Connections bought Sanipac and its recycling and construction waste hauling subsidiaries from four members of the Papé family last year for $43.8 million.

Since then, negotiations between Sanipac and its unionized workers bogged down over a new labor contract. Last month, Teamsters Local 206, which represents most of the firm’s 135 employees, voted to authorize a strike if an agreement is not reached.

In response, the company published an ad in last Thursday’s Register-Guard seeking permanent replacement workers in case drivers and mechanics strike. Negotiations are to resume on Monday with help from a federal mediator.

The executives’ resignation on Friday prompted speculation that they disagreed with Waste Connection’s handling of the negotiations.

But Wichmann on Saturday said Sanipac and the Teamsters had similar difficulty over the last contract four years ago, while the firm was under local ownership. Then, Sanipac advertised for replacement workers and actually hired some workers, he said, but a strike was averted.

Current tension over the labor contract “was not a factor” in his resignation, Wichmann said.

Rather, Wichmann and the two other executives said they had trouble adjusting to Waste Connection’s way of doing things.

But they declined to be specific. Wichmann, for example, said he had “philosophical differences with the management style and direction” of the new owners.

“There is a reason why we didn’t adjust, and that’s because we disagreed with the philosophy of what we were asked to be doing,” he said.

Said Walters: “First off, I’m 61 years old, and I’m pretty set in my ways. We’re just used to doing things in a certain way, and it’s hard to go through changes.”

Attempts to reach Waste Connections executives on Saturday at the company’s headquarters in Folsom were unsuccessful.

The three departed managers were nearing retirement age, which they said also influenced their decision to leave. Altogether, they had been with Sanipac for a combined 102 years.

Walters started as a garbage collector with Sanipac in 1973, becoming operations manager in 1980.

Kauble, 60, began with Sanipac the same year, washing garbage containers. He later worked in customer service and became sales and marketing manager in 2006.

Wichmann joined the firm in 1980 as chief financial officer, becoming general manager in 2006.

Sanipac, with about 60,000 customers, provides all the residential and commercial refuse hauling in Springfield. The firm has 75 percent of the commercial and 85 percent of the residential business in Eugene, Wichmann said.

Customers and the community at large shouldn’t worry about the future of Sanipac, he said.

“You have over 100 drivers and mechanics that are quality individuals, who are very professional,” he said. “And you have over 20 people in the office who are equally talented. It’s a good company. No question.”

The three managers met with the company’s drivers and mechanics to inform them of their resignations at 6:30 a.m. Friday, before the drivers embarked on their routes.

Walters, their immediate supervisor, told them he was leaving, adding that it would be the last time that he wished them a safe day.

Then it was Wichmann’s turn.

“Listen, this is a good company,” Wichmann recalled saying. “You do important work. We have philosophical differences with management, and it’s just time to move on.”

A new company formed by former executives of the area’s dominant garbage hauler is seeking a license to start a trash service in Eugene.

The move by Waste Reduction Services, a limited-­liability company formed on Feb. 1, could put the former Sanipac managers in direct competition with their old employer and give Eugene residents another choice for garbage and recycling pickup.

Ethan Nelson, the city’s solid waste coordinator, said the license application for Waste Reduction Services has been approved but a license has not been issued yet pending the receipt of additional information. He said he didn’t know how soon that information will be submitted.

According to state incorporation records, Waste Reduction Services was formed by Rick Wichmann and David Walters, longtime Sanipac executives who resigned last week. Wichmann had been the general manager of the Eugene operation and Walters was the operations manager.

Sanipac was purchased by Waste Connections, a company based in Folsom, Calif., last summer. Before that it was a locally owned company controlled by the Papé family.

Wichmann, Walters and Jack Kauble, Sanipac’s marketing manager, quit the company on Feb. 19, saying they had become disenchanted with the management style and direction of the new owners.

They declined to be more specific in an interview the day after their resignations but said they had trouble with Waste Connections’ way of doing things.

Wichmann and Kauble could not be reached for comment Wednesday or Thursday on their plans for the new company. It is not known how soon the company would be able to begin offering service if a license is issued.

Unlike many cities, including Springfield, Eugene does not grant exclusive franchises that allow only one garbage hauler to operate in a defined territory. Instead, the city allows up to eight companies to hold a license to provide waste collection, with a provision that could allow additional licenses.

Seven companies have garbage hauling licenses in Eugene, leaving one vacant.

Ironically, that vacant slot was created by Sanipac’s acquisition in 2003 of ASW Disposal; before that, eight companies had licenses.

While it’s possible for a ninth license to be issued, the applicant would have to first prove that the city needs additional service.

If Waste Reduction Services does submit the additional information, gets a license and begins offering residential service, it will have to provide the same services other haulers do, which includes re­cycling and yard waste pickup.

The city also sets rules for commercial hauling.

The rules include a provision that prevents companies from cutting prices to undercut the competition.

Instead, the city sets a floor price and allows haulers to charge no more than 10 percent above that.

Sanipac has about 85 percent of the residential and 75 percent of the commercial business in Eugene, in addition to being the exclusive hauler in Springfield.