The Houston Chronicle, May 6, 2006, Saturday

Copyright 2006 The Houston Chronicle Publishing Company
All Rights Reserved
The Houston Chronicle

May 6, 2006 Saturday
3 STAR R.O. EDITION

SECTION: BUSINESS; Pg. 1

HEADLINE: Waste Management health plan protested

BYLINE: BILL HENSEL JR., Staff

BODY:
A group of Waste Management sanitation workers converged Friday on Houston to protest the company's health care program.
The protesters, who appeared mainly to be from out of town and included some who are on strike, charged that Houston-based Waste Management is trying to slash their health care benefits. The company disagrees.
"All we want to do is work and take care of our families," said Vince Hardy, an employee from New York City who is a member of Local 813 of the International Brotherhood of Teamsters.
The protesters, who marched in front of Waste Management's downtown headquarters, also included workers from Seattle and Washington, D.C. The union workers said they are upset with what they say are "deep cuts" in benefits.
The decision by the Teamsters to have the protest in Houston at the annual shareholder meeting probably wasn't a coincidence, Richard Hurd, a professor of labor studies at Cornell University, said Friday.
"The Teamsters are part of the new Change to Win Federation, and that organization has targeted Houston as a place where they want to build activity and build a presence," Hurd said.
Change to Win is composed of seven unions that joined forces as a rival to the AFL-CIO. Last week, protesters gathered outside a Wal-Mart in Pasadena as part of a national effort to pressure the retailer to beef up its health insurance offerings.
And Hurd noted that Teamsters several weeks ago kicked off the nationwide campaign raising questions about the decline of health care benefits in general, Hurd noted.
"They are arguing the health insurance system is not effectively serving workers in the U.S.," Hurd said. "So this fits into the general theme of trying to highlight health insurance and health care at this time."
Waste Management, one of the biggest trash haulers in the country, has roughly 50,000 employees. Less than one-fourth are represented by unions, according the company, which said the Waste Management workers in Houston aren't unionized.
Members from Local 813 in New York remain on strike against Waste Management. Company officials said Friday they are seeking to reach an agreement with the workers.
"We are very, very interested in getting this strike settled as soon as possible," Jack Pope, chairman of Waste Management's board of directors, said during Friday's shareholder meeting. "We'd really like to get these negotiations behind us and move on with business."
The health care benefit plan on the table with the New York local is the same Waste Management insurance plan that covers other employees, company spokeswoman Lynn Brown said Friday. Previously, those workers were covered by a union plan, she said.
"I would say our plan is better," Brown said.
About 20 other locals have accepted the same health care plan, which asks workers to pay a portion of the plan, she said, adding that the share the company pays is higher than the national average.
The Teamsters on Friday also criticized pay and bonuses granted to David Steiner, who became chief executive officer in 2004. The union noted that he got a bonus of more than $1 million for the company's performance in 2005.
The company announced Friday that a shareholder proposal calling for a change in how the board of directors is elected was approved. The proposal is to move from a plurality system to majority vote standard.
Pope said the board would take the vote, which is nonbinding, into consideration. The Teamsters pushed that proposal and hailed the results, which fell short a year ago.

NOTES: bill.hensel@chron.com

GRAPHIC: Photo: BENEFITS PROTEST: Members of Teamsters Local 919, including Larry Ware of Houston, center, rally in front of Waste Management's downtown headquarters on Friday, claiming the company is seeking to cut health care benefits.
MELISSA PHILLIP : CHRONICLE