Waste Management Inc

Waste Management, Inc. is the largest USA waste management company. In the 1980s and 1990s Waste Management Inc and others did expand into Europe, but then withdrew at the end of the 1990s. 

WMI employs about 50,000 workers in the USA. 

The USA companies have a long history of driving down pay and conditions, opposing union organisation, and dangerous working conditions. Since the 1970s, many municipalities have deliberately outsourced waste collection to the private companies as a way of driving down labour costs. The problems continue: a major dispute and strike took place in 2008 in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, over company attempts to worsen conditions; and the Teamsters union has just published a damning survey of the companies’ unsafe policies: between 140 and 170 people are killed each year in the USA in garbage truck accidents; two-thirds of workers work over 10 hours per day; the largest company WMI has been responsible for 232 breaches of safety laws in the last 5 years.[i]

 

http://www.wm.com/



[i] In Harms way: How WASTE MANAGEMENT, INC. Endangers the Sanitation Workers Who Protect the Public’s Health. 2008. International Brotherhood of Teamsters.    http://www.teamster.org/uploadedFiles/Industries/Solid_Waste/pdfs/Waste_In_Harms_Way.pdf

Year end Currency Employee cost Number of employees Profit Profit per employee ROCE (percent) Revenue (in millions) Revenue in euros (millions) Revenue per employee
2010-12-31 USD 42800 953 38 11.08% 12515 9366 292
2009-12-31 USD 43400 994 34 10.40% 11791 8185 272