Teamsters Local 25 vs. Republic Services

Boston Area, July – September 2025

When Teamsters Local 25 walked off the job against Republic Services in July 2025, sanitation workers on the North Shore and Greater Boston became visible in a way that essential labor rarely is. Photographed the strike across eleven weeks — picket lines, tensions with replacement drivers, and the daily reality of workers holding the line. The strike ended September 19 with a five-year contract including pay increases and improved benefits. These images sit at the intersection of labor, infrastructure, and the political economy of waste — where Bill Gates's private investment firm owns 34 percent of the company the workers were fighting.