Danielle Jackson

Orange County, Calif. -- Union sanitation workers at three of four major trash hauling companies agreed to return to work after a five-day strike left about 350,000 residences and 24,000 businesses without collection services. Sanitation workers at the fourth hauling company were expected to vote late on Friday.

The proposed contract agreement, which was widely accepted by union workers, would include a 33.5 percent wage and benefits increase over five years and 15 hours of overtime per week, increasing the average driver's pay from $42,000 per year to $53,000 per year.

Bob Coyle, vice president of Houston-based Waste Management Inc., said that trash pickups would be 100 percent operational with union drivers along commercial routes by Saturday, and 100 percent operational with union drivers along residential routes by Monday.