Trash haulers expect merger to spur layoffs

The pending merger of two trash haulers, Phoenix-based Allied Waste Industries Inc. and Fort Lauderdale, Fla.-based Republic Services Inc., will result in layoffs at both firms.

The U.S. Department of Justice still has to approve the deal, which the firms expect to happen by the end of the year.

The combined company's final employment will be partly determined by divestitures it will have to make to meet Justice's antitrust requirements. Those divestitures have not yet been determined, but the firms are anticipating layoffs to eliminate overlap of positions, said Will Flower, a Republic Services spokesman.

About 100 positions in Fort Lauderdale already have been identified for elimination, Flower said. The number of Allied Waste positions to be eliminated has not been determined, he said.

Allied Waste employed about 23,000 people and Republic Services about 13,000 when the companies announced merger plans in June.

Allied Waste and Republic Services announced Friday that 95 percent of their shareholders had approved the companies' proposed merger.

Plans call for the combined company to be called Republic Services Inc., with its headquarters in Phoenix.