IRVINE, Calif., Oct. 25, 2006 (PRIMEZONE) -- Waste Management of Orange County today released the following statement after its employees in Irvine voted on Wednesday to accept the company's proposed five-year contract as a successor agreement to the contract that expired Sept. 30. This is the same offer the company's Santa Ana employees voted to accept last week. Waste Management's employees at both its Irvine and Santa Ana operations are members of Teamsters Local 396.

The employees who work for the company's Santa Ana operations voted to ratify the contract on Friday, Oct. 20. In a separate vote that day, the employees in Irvine voted against ratification. The union voted the offer again on Wednesday, after allowing several days to continue the education process on the terms of the proposed contract. The employees in Irvine continued to work during this period.

The offer was the company's "last, best and final" offer. The union and Waste Management agreed to put the contract to a vote after both parties agreed to the terms of the proposed contract, and union leadership and bargaining committee members recommended its ratification to their members.

The company released the following statement:

"We are very happy to report that our employees in Irvine have joined along with their colleagues in Santa Ana in voting to approve the proposed contract. We commend all of our employees in Orange County for recognizing the value of the contract, which provides considerable wage increases, competitive benefits and improved language in safety and other areas of the contract. We are pleased that the union and the company were able to agree on a new contract that we believe is very fair.

"Waste Management's goal was to reach an agreement that keeps its workers among the highest paid in the industry, with strong benefits, while preserving its ability to provide competitively-priced service in Orange County. The agreement with Local 396 achieves this objective.

"It's always been the company's goal to treat all of our employees -- including the 26 percent of our workforce company-wide that is unionized -- in a fair and equitable manner. This includes offering competitive wages and benefits, and safe working conditions to each and every employee within Waste Management.

"We know that negotiations can be a challenging process and really appreciate and admire our employees' professionalism and patience throughout the process. We are very proud of the contributions they make to our communities each day, helping to keep them clean in a comprehensive and safe manner.

"We would like to thank the negotiating teams, particularly the employee representatives, for their dedication to the negotiating process and for their willingness to continue negotiations even past the expiration of the preceding contract, so that we could continue to provide the service our customers expect. At no time throughout the process did they stop working, which ensured that our customers were not unnecessarily impacted by the negotiations.

"We would like to congratulate our employees on their new five-year contracts and the benefits they will quickly receive from voting for ratification of these agreements. We also would like to, once again, thank them for the service and dedication they exhibit each day to the communities they serve in Orange County."

For more information, visit Waste Management of Orange County's Web site at www.wmorangecounty.com.

Waste Management is the leading provider of comprehensive waste management services in North America. Our subsidiaries provide collection, transfer, recycling and resource recovery, and disposal services. We are also a leading developer, operator and owner of waste-to-energy and landfill gas-to-energy facilities in the United States. Our customers include residential, commercial, industrial, and municipal customers throughout North America.

The Waste Management logo is available at http://www.primezone.com/newsroom/prs/?pkgid=2844

CONTACT:  Waste Management
          Sarah Huoh, Public Relations Manager
          (949) 283-8486 (mobile)