USA Waste Services Inc.’s $21 billion-plus bid to acquire Oak Brook-based Waste Management Inc. left many employees of this west suburban trash-hauling company wondering about their futures Wednesday morning.
Workers at the company’s sprawling campus, which straddles Butterfield Road, huddled in the halls and talked over turkey sandwiches in the cafeteria to ponder whether they would still have jobs once the deal is completed.
“I think everyone’s concerned,” said a Waste Management employee, who declined to give her name. “If you don’t know how the business world and how companies work, you’re going to be concerned. But if you know how business works, you know that layoffs, mergers and being bought out is all part of it.”
An employee in office services, who also declined to be named, said lots of people at the company were feeling “down.” He said he was planning to leave the company in April anyway to join the Army, but he felt bad for some employees who have been with Waste Management for years.
“I can understand how bad it is to lose a job after 15 years,” he said.
By the time the companies are fully merged, and headquarters functions are moved to USA Waste’s site in Houston, a number of the 1,500 employees at corporate headquarters could be fired.
But most employees won’t be affected by USA Waste’s takeover, a Waste Management spokesman said.
Still, news of the Waste Management deal came as a shocker to some local businesses that depend on the company. At Magnum’s Prime Steakhouse, an upscale 1950s-style restaurant across the street from Waste Management headquarters, the general manager fretted that the deal would mean fewer meetings in the restaurant’s private rooms.
“We do a lot of business with Waste Management, so I’m sure it will affect business,” said Marty Ferraro, leaning up against a bar where a couple men in suits drank beer and smoked cigars. “They’re one of our better customers.”
Robert K. Hjort, general manager of the Embassy Suites hotel in nearby Lombard, said it was too early to tell how much of an impact the deal would have on the hotel. But it’s something he said would look into immediately. The hotel is only a block away from Waste Management headquarters, and a lot of guests who are in town to meet executives at the company stay at the property.
But while the takeover of Waste Management may cause some heartbreak in Oak Brook, DuPage County is doing so well overall in creating jobs and attracting businesses that the departure of the headquarters may not be noticed.
In 1996, the number of private-sector jobs in DuPage increased by 8,241, or nearly 2 percent, according to a recent report by the Illinois Department of Employment Security. DuPage also claimed 2,217 new businesses, or about 18 percent of all new business establishments in the Chicagoland area.
