Drivers Lose With NASCAR and Waste Management Inc.

Teamsters Send Clear Message With 50-Foot Banner Flying Over Daytona 500

DAYTONA, Fla., Feb. 19 -- The Teamsters Union denounced Waste Management Inc. (WMI) for its ongoing assault on minority sanitation workers by commissioning a plane to fly a 50-foot banner over the Daytona 500 speedway for two hours that read, "WMI and NASCAR Want Some Drivers to Lose."

Houston-based WMI, the nation's largest private trash hauler, is a sponsor of NASCAR's diversity programs despite attempting to impose deep wage, retirement, health care and pension benefit cuts on its predominantly minority sanitation truck drivers in Washington D.C. and New York. The company's work force is overwhelmingly African American and Latino. NASCAR's steering committee is chaired by basketball legend Earvin "Magic" Johnson.

Jim Hoffa, Teamsters General President, wrote a letter to Johnson detailing WMI's reprehensible treatment of its minority workforce. The Teamsters represent 10,000 workers at 69 Waste Management locals nationwide.

"We are confident that when presented with the facts, Mr. Johnson will agree that Waste Management's treatment of its workers is shameful," Hoffa said. "If NASCAR is truly committed to promoting diversity, then its sponsors should live up to that commitment."

The Daytona flyover comes after a wave of Teamster actions at WMI locations across the country. Teamsters have conducted informational picketing and leafleting in California, Washington, Illinois, Colorado and Maryland during the past six weeks. Workers also staged a protest at WMI's New York City headquarters that drew hundreds of Teamster members from Local 813, which is currently in contract negotiations with WMI.

"While it's admirable to sponsor minority NASCAR drivers, it would be even more admirable if the company paid and rewarded its own sanitation truck drivers decently," said Robert Morales, President of the Teamsters National Hispanic Caucus and Secretary-Treasurer of Local 350 in Daly City, California. Local 350 represents WMI sanitation truck drivers and workers in California Bay area.

Founded in 1903, the Teamsters Union represents more than 1.4 million hardworking men and women in the United States and Canada.