A labor dispute involving garbage truck drivers in King and Snohomish counties is on the verge of boiling over into a strike that would affect Maple Valley, Covington, Black Diamond and the surrounding area.

The drivers’ contract expires at midnight Wednesday, March 31.

The drivers are represented by Teamsters Local Union 174. The union is involved in separate negotiations with Waste Management, based in Houston, Texas and Allied Waste Services, which is owned by Republic Services with corporate headquarters in Phoenix, Ariz.

Waste Management is the largest waste service company in America and Republic is second. Republic and Allied merged in 2008.

Teamsters Local 117, whose drivers pick up recycle and yard waste will honor a picket line set up by 174 drivers according to Michael Gonzales, spokesman for Local 174.

Gonzales said the union and two companies have been negotiating for the past seven weeks. The vote on either a contract ratification or strike authorization will be 10 a.m. Sunday, March 28 in Tukwilla.

Safety issues were a significant part of the earlier negotiations.

Jackie Lang, spokeswoman for Waste Management, said “there are no safety issues on the table. The negotiations are focused on economics.”

Gonzales also said he thought the safety issues were “taken care of. I believe there could be one or two safety issues, but what is left now is payroll.”

According to Gonzales, the safety issues included overloaded trucks and how people were treated who made Washington state Labor and Industries claims when injured.

Lang stated the critical issues on the table right now are wages and benefits, including healthcare and pensions.

“The central issue is economics,” Lang said. “These are difficult economic times for the communities we serve.”

According Lang, Waste Management has lost money due to the “cost-of-living rate adjustment process.”

Gonzales said, “I want to ask anyone to look at their bill and see if it has gone down in the last three years. My garbage bill has gone up. I find it hard to believe they are losing money.”

Both sides agree the base pay for drivers is about $25 per hour.

Lang said the union is asking for a 25 percent increase in compensation, including hourly pay and benefits.

Gonzales said the union has not asked for a 25 percent increase.

“That (figure) was centered on what they put out to the media,” Gonzales said. “They’ve been disingenuous. We use bargaining tactics, not bargaining tactics through the media.”

Lang said Waste Management “is not proposing to cut wages over the term of agreement. We are committed to a fair and balanced contract.”

According to an e-mail from Lang the two sides “are still far apart in their contract renewal discussion.”

Peg Mulloy, spokeswoman for Republic Services, wrote in an e-mail concerning the negotiations for Allied, “The labor issue revolves around pension protection language.”

Both Mulloy and Lang said each company has plans for garbage, recycle and yard waste to be picked up if the union members vote to strike.

Gonzales said Waste Management had already flown in employees to work as a “strike replacement team.”

Lang denied the statement from Gonzales, but she said, “We do have contingency plans. We want to stay at the table. We are committed to staying at the table.”

Lang said the company has a “large group of experienced men and women we call on during an emergency.”

According to Lang, the large group are employees of Waste Management.

Both the strike authorization and the contract ratification take a simple majority to pass.

Gonzales stated there were about 500 Local 174 members with about 200 more from Local 117.