After coming close to a strike, union workers at Napa Recycling and Waste Services and Napa County Recycling and Waste Services have approved a four-year contract.

The contract, which was hammered out with the help of a federal mediator, ensures uninterrupted garbage service to local households and businesses.

Some 50 members of Teamsters Local 490 ratified the new contract with an "overwhelming" vote Feb. 4, said Carlos Borba, the union's secretary-treasurer.

The agreement was reached 12 hours before members would have met for a strike vote, Borba said. "It was very tough," Borba said of the five months of negotiations.

Local 490 members approved their first contract with the new companies that replaced Waste Management on Oct. 1. These workers provide service to the city of Napa and surrounding unincorporated areas.

Vacation and health benefits had been the primary sticking points, Borba said. The new operator had wanted to start all workers with two weeks of vacation per year and have them pay more for health insurance, he said.

The negotiated contract reduces the maximum vacation from five to four weeks. The company will pay annual increases in health insurance premiums, with employees continuing to pay a deductible for service, Borba said.

Employees agreed to zero wage increase in the first year and 50-cent hourly increases in each of the next three years, Borba said. Garbage workers earn $22.68 per hour.

"It's not what we hoped to achieve, but it gets us past the stalemate we had," Borba said. The contract is comparable to what area garbage companies are paying, he said.

Greg Kelley, general manager of Napa Recycling and Napa County Recycling, said the company had less negotiating room because of the way the new garbage franchises are written.

When Waste Management had the city and county franchises, the garbage company could pass on increased labor costs to customers, Kelley said. The new deal does not allow this.

By agreeing to pay future increases in health premiums, Napa Recycling and Napa County Recycling is at risk if costs skyrocket, Kelley said.

"Both sides needed to be realistic. I think in the end that's what happened," Kelley said.

Kelley said management had been working on an emergency plan in case of a strike last weekend.

Come Monday morning, the company would have had some replacement drivers to service commercial accounts. Within a few days, replacement drivers would have begun residential pickup, but service would not have been smooth, he said.

Napa's last garbage strike was in the 1970s when local workers walked off the job for a month, Kelley said.

The new contract guarantees the jobs of current union members, but allows the company to subcontract labor from other sources for new types of business or expansion of business, Kelley said.

Some 20 workers at the local recycling and composting center also approved a new contract, Borba said.