Court Cannot Order Trash Collection When Interruption Caused by Strike

Six Massachusetts municipalities sought injunctive relief in the Essex County Superior Court. They submitted affidavits from municipal officials attesting to various harms resulting from various trash collection services’ failure, since July 1, 2025, to abide by their contractual obligations to provide trash removal and recycling services. The harms included: increased pest activity, risk to the general public from pest-borne illnesses, decreased quality of life due to accumulation of trash and recycling, danger of water contamination, and diminished accessibility of sidewalks.

After a hearing on July 22, in City of Beverley v. 623 Landfill, Inc., the Court denied the injunction. What the affidavits failed to note was the cause of the defendants’ failure to comply with their contractual obligations: a labor strike.

Even though the municipalities had strong arguments that the injunction would serve the public interest, the Court was unwilling to award relief when it could not provide a meaningful remedy. The garbage collection services could not comply with any order that the Court might issue, and the Court could not hold them in contempt for their failure to do so. The Court is not empowered to settle the labor dispute between the defendants and their employees.

Fortunately, as Mark Fortier reported for WNBC Boston, the strike settled in September after an eleven-week disruption. The parties entered into a five-year agreement, so that should end the trash talk for now.