Overflowing dumpsters outside Malden High causing concern ahead of back to school

MALDEN, Mass. — With school starting next week in Malden, parents and city leaders are worried about the trash piling up outside school buildings as the sanitation worker strike goes into its 8th week.

“We are really cutting it close here, and people are definitely getting anxious with school starting,” said Karen Colon Hayes, Malden city councilor.

Dumpsters were overflowing outside of Malden High School on Sunday.

“Rats, mice, bugs, they don’t know the difference between inside and outside and so the concern is they’re getting inside the school, you know rats and rodents, they carry diseases – kids are gonna be eating lunch there, so there’s gonna be even more garbage piling up,” said Colon Hayes.

Councilor Colon Hayes says the strike has gone on far too long and worries this could be a health concern.

The Teamsters Local 25 union went on strike July 1 in more than a dozen towns as they fight for better contracts with Republic Services.

Malden residents have had to bring their trash to dumpsters at the Ferryway School all summer, but now with school starting, the city needs to find another location for the trash.

Colon Hayes says another concern is the increased traffic with students heading to school while temporary workers drive those trucks.

“They’re hiring people, but it’s taking longer because they don’t know the streets and some of them haven’t driven big trucks like that, they’re just not trained to do the work, it’s not easy being a sanitation worker I keep saying that to people, like just pay them what they deserve,” said Colon Hayes.

It’s been about a month since both sides came to the table to negotiate.

The Teamsters Union says Republic Services hasn’t even met with them since July 18.

“How can we get anything done, how can we talk things through if you’re not even showing up?” said Colon Hayes.

Republic Services says they plan on making sure all the dumpsters outside of the school buildings will be emptied before the start of school, but they wouldn’t say whether they have any plans on negotiating again soon.

This is a developing story. Check back for updates as more information becomes available.

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