INC NEWS - other workers wages

Mon May 22 18:33:48 EDT 2006

Why not look and consider something outside the box rather than the typical 
governmental response of spending more tax payer money?  This situation has 
revealed another over sight and management problem in our City.  Are you 
proud that Durham has the highest tax rate in the state?  Do you want to pay 
these workers the same as lawyers and doctors?  Comparing the "skills" of 
driving a truck and collecting garbage to that of teachers, policemen and 
firemen is ludicrous.

Why not consider out sourcing the entire solid waste program?
Why not consider out sourcing the solid waste collection as has been done 
with the recycling program?
Why not consider the private construction and private management of an 
incinerator or other state of the art methods to burn our trash while using 
our trash to produce electricity, etc. as other "leading" cities in our 
country?

Are the wages quoted through all these considering the other benefits such 
as medical, dental, medications, paid holidays, liberal vacation time and 
retiremement?

Randy you are an expert in this area and hope that our City officials will 
make the opportunity to listen to your opinions and ideas.

Ronnie Griffin

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Chris Sevick" <csevick at verizon.net>
To: <inc-list at durhaminc.org>
Sent: Monday, May 22, 2006 5:37 PM
Subject: Re: INC NEWS - other workers wages

> RWP,
>
> I understand that the garbage workers are paid comparably to other jobs 
> requiring specialized skills - like teachers, policemen, firemen, etc. 
> However, I'm just not seeing people from those careers come forward to say 
> that this level of compensation is sufficient.  My guess is that a level 
> of solidarity may exist at this income bracket, which comes from a feeling 
> that they are all being paid too little to live at a general level of 
> comfort.
>
> So, rhetorically, you can state that there are lots of people making less 
> money, but until the people making less money speak out, I don't see any 
> moral equivalence to your argument.
>
> If you wanted to facilitate a conversation between the workers and 
> management in order to renegotiate the terms of employment, then I 
> wouldn't have any problem with it.  However, that needs to be a two-way 
> street.  Instead, you call for unilateral actions against the workers, 
> which although common in today's workplace, I find to be socially 
> regressive, and damaging to our community.
>
> Thanks,
> Chris Sevick
>
> =====================
> From: RW Pickle <randy at 27beverly.com>
> Date: Mon May 22 15:06:50 CDT 2006
> To: csevick at alumni.unc.edu
> Cc: inc-list at durhaminc.org
> Subject: Re: INC NEWS - other workers wages
>
> Chris, somewhere you missed the point. As it is right now, we are paying
> twice for a service. Once to the people hired to do the job in the first
> place and again when we pay temps and the same workers overtime to do the
> job (when they are working only 28-32 hours of the time they are paid for
> the work; they are paid for 40 hours on the current task system
> arrangement of pay) that the full time workers just do not do.
>
> It has nothing to do with if their service is needed, if they are overpaid
> or underpaid, or if they even have an American Dream. We know we need
> trash picked up, we learned last week from my posts that pay for other
> jobs (like McDonals or a service position in a mall) is much less, that
> CDL drivers (the special license required to drive the big solid waste
> trucks) make about the same across any industry, and it's not a matter of
> if they are underpaid; they aren't.
>
> Just FYI, the gross wage of anyone making minimum wage is around $11K. I'm
> sure these people who work for this have dreams as much as anyone else
> does. What they do with their money and their dreams are there business.
> I'd suggest that most of what one earns is tied to their educational
> level. And in this country today, it is possible to get as much education
> as you want. To start, a high school diploma is free for the studying.
> Further education is possible through grants, loans, and scholarships if
> one has the desire to get more education.
>
> If you think solid waste jobs are important, lets just look at what others
> are paid in areas we know are necessary. For example, Police and Fire and
> Safety jobs. Because Durham is a larger city, they are paid more here
> (because the cost of living is more they say). But still, if you want to
> be a policeman or fire fighter, after you pass all the training (which you
> have to do in order to even get a job with these units), you start out at
> $30K and $27K respectively. The same goes for a NC Highway Patrol officer.
> A solid waste worker in Durham makes as much as a policeman in any of the
> surrounding smaller towns like Hillsboro, Garner, or Oxford. Same for the
> fire departments there. So you'd have to believe that these are essential
> jobs as well. Yet the pay is not that much different. Take your postman.
> You see them 6 days a week. The pay for a rural carrier is the same hourly
> rate we pay the temp service for workers who pick up the trash. So we're
> not talking about someone who makes less or more really. It's about
> getting what you've paid for. Right now, we're paying for a service twice.
>
> Everybody has their own thoughts I guess of what the American Dream is.
> Who's to say all of the people mentioned aren't living it? It just may not
> be the same as yours.
>
> And to Paula, the newspapers have nothing over this list. More is being
> discussed here than in the print media. But we have Solid Waste folks as
> well as the City Manager on this list. They both have been receptive in
> the past about commenting. Thanks for the homework you did.
>
> RWP
> 27 Beverly
>
>
>
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