An East San Jose recycling company agreed to settle unfair labor practice charges with drivers who said they were wrongfully laid off for trying to unionize. But it wasn’t exactly the deal they were looking for.
Drivers at waste management company Premier Recycle went almost three years without a labor contract and faced a “vicious union-busting campaign,” according to the Teamsters. Represented by Teamsters Local 853, San Jose drivers voted to ratify a new contract with the labor organization on Dec. 11, 2024 — securing higher wages, improved language on layoffs, full health coverage and seniority rights in the new agreement with Premier Recycle. But workers let go from the company during contract negotiations have continued to seek reinstatement from Premier Recycle in 2025.
“When it came to ratifying the contract, that was one of the main things that Premier wanted in order to ratify the contract, is for us to drop all the unfair labor practice charges,” Ramon Castillo, a former Premier Recycle driver, told San José Spotlight. “But the National Labor Relations Board found merit in the complaint.”
The National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) runs regional offices across the U.S. to locally monitor and investigate unfair labor practice charges.
With the NLRB taking up their unfair labor practices case, Castillo said Premier Recycle didn’t want to keep escalating the case and instead opted for a financial settlement with the drivers earlier this month.
“We wanted to be reinstated and enjoy the contract we all worked hard for, but Premier was fighting it hard. They were going to drag this out,” he said. “The company was maintaining with the NLRB that it was a slow season. (NLRB) let us know they didn’t believe the company, but the NLRB was realizing they weren’t going to bring us back.”
Castillo said the company has enough work to reinstate the workers given drivers are routinely working overtime. Premier Recycle provides dumpster services, construction and demolition material recycling along with waste management consulting.
Former driver Mike Flores is set to receive a settlement instead of reinstatement alongside Castillo. While Flores said they expect nearly six figures, he said he’d prefer having his job back.
“They’d rather pay us to walk than go to court and possibly bring us back to work,” Flores told San José Spotlight. “It’s been three years of us fighting with them.”
Owner Rocky Hill hired federal labor practice firm Burdzinski & Partners Inc. to help with negotiations. The firm openly wrote on its website it helps “make non-union companies unattractive to unions by setting up roadblocks and other impediments thereby making unions unnecessary” — a website description they deleted after the publication of a 2023 San José Spotlight article.
Company vice president Brock Hill did not return a request for comment.
Drivers also voiced concerns over safety and wage theft claims, falsification of union votes, unwarranted surveillance and a general environment of hostility, among other unfair labor practices.
The issue caught the eye of city leaders including East San Jose Councilmember Peter Ortiz, who congratulated the union leaders who reached a new contract with Premier Recycle.
“Thanks to these brave individuals and the determination of the union, the newly ratified contract will guarantee fundamental rights for workers at Premier Recycle,” Ortiz told San José Spotlight. “It has been an honor to stand alongside these union members from the very beginning despite the pressure and backlash our office received from anti-union interests.”
Contact Vicente Vera at [email protected] or follow @VicenteJVera on X.
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