Waste Management garbage haulers went on strike at 10:30 a.m. on April 21 when, according to Waste Management workers, the company was no longer willing to discuss the terms of their contract with their union, Teamsters Local 174.

Waste Management states on its Web site they expect regular garbage service to resume April 22. But, the union has said it will continue to strike until Allied Waste agrees to negotiate the contract again in good faith.

Approximately 1,600 people applied to be drivers in case of a strike in early April, but the company has not announced if and what their plans are to continue garbage service during the strike.

The strike affects garbage and yard waste pickup for 1 million people in King and Snohomish counties, including residents of Ballard, Greenwood, Fremont and Phinney.

According to Seattle Public Utilities, the yard waste of 18,000 northwest and south Seattle residents, who normally have yard waste service on Wednesday, was not picked up. Waste Management has asked the people affected to leave their garbage out for next week.

Updates on the status of garbage pickup and the strike can be found at the Waste Management Web site.

Garbage trucks were called back in from the field and the pickets went up after the strike was announced. The union, on its Web site, accuses Waste Management of attempting to lock out its employees and forcing a strike.

"Waste management is the fifth most dangerous job in the country," according to the union Web site. "Although sanitation workers expose themselves daily to hazardous substances and perform backbreaking physical labor, the company is refusing to provide workers with the same health care protections provided by all other waste companies in the area.”

Waste Management, in their best and final offer given to the union on April 1, offered what would amount to a 10.7 percent increase in annual wages over the next five years, along with $15,000 toward workers' pensions and increased health benefits.

In the fifth year, workers would be making $74,121 in annual wages plus an additional $35,000 a year in pension and health benefits giving them $109,553 a year in annual compensation.