On Dec. 5, following a November property damage incident that left the corner of a cement driveway cracked, the 32-year employee was terminated from his position with Waste Management, he said. Santillan believes he was fired because of the accident, and three other self-reported incidents that caused minor damage to his truck last year.
Waste Management declined to discuss the reason for his termination. Santillan’s teamster union representative, Gilbert Castillo, also declined to comment. The driveway has since been repaired.
For six consecutive days after he was fired, Santillan canvassed the town, soliciting help from residents he’d served over the years, after what he thought was an unfair dismissal.
Residents were eager to get involved.
What followed was an outpouring of support by community members – ranging in age from nine to 90 – actively campaigning to help get Santillan his job back. Sitting on DuRoss’ kitchen table is a five-inch stack of letters, some handwritten, others more than three pages long, filled with personal anecdotes about working with Santillan. She and her husband have been collecting letters from the community for a month – last week, they shipped more than 550 letters to Waste Management officials. DuRoss has received about 100 more letters since.
