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I'm not exactly sure what point she was trying to make with this ride along. I thought pretty much everyone already knew that picking up garbage for a living sucked and was already considered one of the least desirable jobs possible for most people.

I still love you Angela but I think your point would have been much more poignant if there photos of you loading trash into the back of the truck instead of looking kind of grumpy taking a picture of yourself sitting in the cab of the (presumably one of the 10% of air conditioned) truck.

According to the people I've talked to at the City, there is absolutely no resistance to setting a specific minimum wage contractors would have to agree to pay their employees in order to win this contract just so that it is realized that it will mean an increase in sanitation rates over and above what has already been proposed for the next fiscal year. And, there are those on the City Council who say a rate increase is the same as a tax increase and they are opposed to any and all tax increases.

Charles: The truck was NOT air-conditioned. I switched trucks from the one staff wanted to put me on after talking with some of the sanitation workers and drivers about bad routes and bad trucks.

I took a million pics of these guys working. The one posted here is the only one with me in it and I didn't make the decision to post it.

And I'm always grumpy at 6 a.m. Doesn't matter what I'm doing. Six a.m. is nuts.

I wasn't there to be a garbage man for a day. I was there to watch how hard these guys work, how long they work, and see for myself the problems they experience on the job.

It's one thing to have an intellectual understanding that "sanitation workers have it rough." It's quite another to talk with these guys, to actually see how hard they work, to experience the problems they encounter (tons of brush blocking the alleys, no A/C, etc.). They work 13-14 hour days, in the heat, rain, cold, and the guys on the back of the truck deserve more than minimum wage. It is not right.

I will post more on my blog this week.

Don't blame Hunt for the photo we used -- there are, of course, several more in the slide show. I decided to use this one because, well, it looks like a mid-1970s prog-funk album cover.

Damn, Charles. You just got served, yo!

Keep it prog-funk Angela!

Robert, et al.: Thank you for giving me my new campaign slogan (for all the various and sundry elected offices I'm supposedly seeking):

"Angela Hunt: Keepin' it prog-funk."

Until I heard Angela Hunt discuss this on NPR one day, I had no clue that these guys were paid so little and how dangerous the job is.

We decided to skip the xmas $ for the mail
man/woman and paper boy/girl and give it to the sanitation workers. I don't know what else we, as individuals can do.

I am surprised the city of Dallas doesn't make them pay for the gas used in the sanitation vehicles.

I expect that the $700,000 would go a long way toward that pay raise. I vote we do that instead of GPS.

Couldn't you get the DA to make up a Christmas list for these guys????

Well it looks like I got my ass handed to me. Don't get me wrong, I'm one of your biggest fans and must offer you a bravo for taking the un-air conditioned truck. As for 6AM, I don't remember the last time I was up at 6AM much less out of the house doing something so I'm sure the grumpiness was well deserved.

I must ask though, considering the already stretched city budget, a myriad of underfunded essential city projects and already high proprety taxes, where do you propose the money is going to come from to offer them higher wages? You seem to be suggesting that trash collection fees be increased and while I understand that $2.04 per year is pretty insignificant it puts us on a slippery sloop of other insignificant increases in other areas and as we all know those minor individual costs can add up very quickly.

Do you feel this is the only position under the auspice of Dallas city council that is underpaid or can we expect you to fight for other slight increases in city fees? For example, do you feel that every DART employee is paid appropriately or can we expect you to ask for higher ticket prices for raises for them, perhaps there are underpaid water employees also deserving of higher water prices or park and recreation employees deserving of higher city taxes.

Angela is the ONLY one on the City Council who keeps it real. She is the only one that actually cares about the city & not just its image. You can put a dress on a pig but it's still a pig & Angela gets it. Keep up the good fight--there are many of us out here who love & support you!

You all need to listen to Angela. This is a core service like code enforcement that a City has to get right or property values will suffer.

Six dollars an hour will get you a guy who will work for about 2 months until he can find a wage he can survive on. The job may stink worse than any other, but underfund it and your City streets end up looking like a third world country.

"I had no clue that these guys were paid so little and how dangerous the job is."

I agree that the job is stressful and dangerous, but if folks are applying for the jobs at the posted salary/wage then the free market is in effect.

If no one is applying for the jobs then that is the time to raise the pay. As long as people are applying there is no need to raise the pay. It is called supply and demand. The only thing that increasing the pay will do is to attract more applicants. Would they be better applicants?

Why not do as other cities have done and get out of the garbage collection business, out source the service to the highest bidder?

"“Let’s pay these guys a decent wage so that they aren’t forced back into crime to make ends meet.”"

Instead of higher wages why not provide training that gives them new skills to justify the higher wages, or to skill positions that pay more.

If you are going to raise the sanitation workers pay are you going to raise the pay for this position?

http://tinyurl.com/664vl8

to see what the city has available check here

http://agency.governmentjobs.com/dallas/default.cfm

and before someone says how despicable I am, let me clearly state the I have in the past worked as a manual laborer, a dishwasher and a short order cook so I know what hard work is about, and for the longest time I didn't have air conditioning in my car.

Desert Rat, thank you.

Charles, good questions. I'm spending the July council recess going over the city budget. Among other things, I'll be looking for ways to fund an increase in pay for our sanitation workers. I think in lean budget years like this one, it may be hard to get all the way to $11/hr (poverty level in Dallas -- how sad that's what we're aspiring to), but we've got to start somewhere, even if it's an incremental increase this year.

To be clear: We're not talking about employees who probably deserve to be paid a little bit more (which might apply to many hard-working city staffers). We're talking about guys who clean up our city for 13 hours a day who ought to be paid more than $5.85/hour for their back-breaking work.

To me it's just a fundamental question of fairness. It is not right to pay these guys minimum wage. They work too hard and do too much for our city. We've got to figure out a way to fix this, and we will.

Cut garbage back to once a week as opposed to twice. It will save fuel and will help to reduce landfill use.

Cut garbage back to once a week as opposed to twice. It will save fuel and will help to reduce landfill use.

@Peterk:

your arguments and alternatives were sound. but everyone gets beaten down by these generic and overly-used type of disclaimers:

"... let me clearly state the I have in the past worked as a manual laborer, a dishwasher and a short order cook so I know what hard work is about, and for the longest time I didn't have air conditioning in my car..."

i think you also forgot to say, "..and my best friend is black/mexican..."

pirate.

Peterk, I think that you miss the point. Yes people apply for these jobs, but they most likely continue to look for other employment and bail as soon as they get a better offer elsewhere (and just about any offer would be better). Don't forget, the recruitment and hiring process costs the city money. If workers are paid better, they may remain in these positions longer and take more pride in their work and in the long run, maybe even save the city money.

As for the Aviation Laborer job to which you linked, I agree that it is not much but would it not be fair to pay the sanitation workers the same amount?

As far as outsourcing goes, why do you think that private enterprise will be less expensive or more efficient? Typically outsourcing goes to the lowest bidder who then still needs to make a profit. Even if the city is less efficient (and I see no compelling reason why it necessarily would be) it does not have the overhead of shareholder profit and executive bonuses that must be paid.

If you really want to advocate for free-market garbage collection, then make homeowners responsible for making sure their garbage is removed at least once a week though strict code-enforcement and leave it to the free-market to provide competitive garbage collection services. I suspect that for most families this will end up being both more expensive and less convenient than the city operated service.

I for one, would not mind the extra $2 per year. Dallas already charges less than some other places that I have lived.

I think Angela's heart is in the right place, but the devil is in the details. Whenever wages are raised above market, no matter how well-intentioned the motive, the jobs have to be allocated, since an above-market wage creates a surplus of job-seekers over jobs. Next, what tends to happen, is that the jobs get allocated to those who have the right "hook up." (See "longshoreman, application process" or for a more local example, "MWBE set-aside, non-competitively bid" for further details.)

oc I live in far North Dallas and have had once a week service for about four months. Why hasn't the rest of the city gone to the new schedule? I find it strange that again the part of the city paying the most taxes gets the least amount of services.

Wylie,

Maybe I can get a "hook up" for an $8/hr garbage pickup job! Now THAT is livin!

Oh, and longshoremen? Really? Those peeps make 75k to 100k or more per year. You're really going to compare that to someone making minimum wage?

Get real, son. The city should have a bare minimum it pays to any city and $5.85 is an insult to any hard working American who gets out of bed in the morning and puts in a 40 hour week.

I agree that the job is stressful and dangerous, but if folks are applying for the jobs at the posted salary/wage then the free market is in effect.

If no one is applying for the jobs then that is the time to raise the pay. As long as people are applying there is no need to raise the pay. It is called supply and demand. The only thing that increasing the pay will do is to attract more applicants. Would they be better applicants?

I'm going to tread on thin water and partially agree with this statement. Since it appears that we keep these positions filled it doesn't seem like the market is demanding higher wages. Just by the way the job is defined by the city as "temporary workers" I would assume that they are not intended to stay in the position for very long. These appear to be temporary employment situations for largely unskilled and uneducated employees, ones that would later move on to other, hopefully higher paying and more skilled positions. As they say, you have to start somewhere.

You say that you are aiming but don't necessarily expect to reach hourly wages above the poverty level. Is it safe to assume many of these employees are receiving economic assistance and likely would remain on it even at higher wages? Are these positions considered full-time employment or does the job allow them to peruse on-the-job training or educational opportunities? I would assume there are many other higher paying jobs available in Dallas sanitation services, are these "temporary" workers encouraged to move up to higher paying and higher skilled positions within the department?

You know, there is no way around it, these jobs suck. They suck at $6.50 an hour, they suck at $11 an hour, they suck at $20 an hour and it sucks that someone is in a position where they feel they need to take the job at $6.55 an hour.

I don't think the solution is to pay them more money, they are still in an awful job and are still below the poverty level. I would really hope the city would have programs that said, you know, this job sucks, the hours suck and the pay sucks. We don't even want you to have this job. Prove yourself in this position, show up on time, work hard and we'll do everything possible to make sure you stay in this position for a little time as possible and that we can teach you a skill to find a better job at a higher wage either for the city or out in the private sector.

I also live in north Dallas and have had once a week service. Why hasn't the rest of the city gone to the same schedule?

I would like once a week trash pickup and once a week recycling instead of twice a week trash and once every two weeks recycling.

And let's not forget Code Enforcement! Strong enforcement helps curtail crime in the long term. I almost never get a response from 311 and when I DO call I have to wait for at least 5-8 mins. That's BS!!

Mrs. Hunt spend some time with Code Enforcement too!!

Dallas sanitation needs a new direction. The answers are easy and simple. Other cities have switched to these simple rules with success but Dallas insists on doing it "the way we have always done it."

!. Move all pickup to curbside. This results in getting the trucks out of the alleys where the can move faster and safer.

2. Change to once a week pick-up.

I'm sure a few in the old neighborhoods may complain but times change and the city needs to make these changes as quickly as possible.

Meanwhile Dwaine Caraway, the mayor's most loyal ally on the council and an ardent champion of the new city-owned convention hotel, will be the guest of honor at Sambuca, 2120 McKinney Ave, Thursday, June 26 for a "fundraising reception" sponsored by the Hotel Association of Greater Dallas. The host committee for the reception includes H. Ross Perot, jr., John Crawford, Tom Dunning, Darrell JOrdan, Bill Lively, Erle Nye, Marvin Robisnon and Pete Schenkel. Meanwhile Angela's haningin' around with a bunch of garbage men. How's she ever gonna get ahead inthis town?

Toots,

Don't you know never to call 311 in the City of Dallas unless you have a speakerphone. That way, you can do other stuff while you're waiting (that's what I do).

Jim,

What exectly are you trying to suggest?

If you do your usual capable research, I think you'll find that Dwaine was one of the first (if not the first) to meet with the garbage workers and raised this issue.

I'm not raising this issue to knock my friend Ange at all, it's more a counterpoint to your comment here.

Almost all elected officials are attending or hosting fundraisers during this time here, as you have note on unfair park over the last few weeks.

Jim,

What exactly are you trying to suggest?

If you do your usual capable research, I think you'll find that Dwaine was one of the first (if not the first) to meet with the garbage workers with respect to this issue.

I'm not raising this issue to knock my friend Angela at all, it's more a counterpoint to your comment on this post.

Almost all elected officials are attending or hosting fundraisers during this time of the year, as you have noted on unfair park over the last few weeks.

The issue involves two different workers. The drivers of the Sanitation Trucks are employees of the City of Dallas and the City Council can adjust the wages of these individuals. However, those people who toss the trash into the trucks are not employees of the City of Dallas and adjusting their wages -- even to make them comparable to what the drivers are making -- is a little bit trickier. These folks work for the company that was the low bidder to provide this contract service. Now the City can attempt, and will if the majority of the Council directs it to, place in its next bid provisions that, in order to qualify for this contract, employees must be paid a minimum wage of (whatever the council sets). But the City itself cannot simply raise their wage scale.

""..and my best friend is black/mexican..."

well actually my best friend part Portuguese and Hawaiian. another is Japaneses, I could go on and on, but let me ask you this pirate have you ever done any heavy labor? have you worked in the hot noon day sun?

Can we get some GPS devices for the Council so we know which Superpages.com Center shows they will actually pay for?

Charles,

At the end of my 11-14 hour workday, exactly what city facility and what city employee is going to be available to mentor,tutor, and or provide me with training so that I can get a better job?

Sounds like 'the check is in the mail' to me.

Does DCCCD have classes after 10 PM ?

For Heaven's sakes...use the online 311 system. You can input the information in yourself and you can get emails updating you on the progress of your request.

As to living wages, as a landscape design/install business owner I have some knowledge relating these type jobs.

First off $10/hr is the starting wage for most laborers today. I agree with Angela's assertion that $12 is likely where a living wage starts today.

It seems to me that one who works full time and is over 20yrs. should have a minimum wage of $10. There are other jobs I've worked that were easier, like cooking/dishwashing, even in an unairconditioned kitchen in TX, that may use a combination of teen/part-time help. These jobs and employers would be hardest hit by a broader living wage standard, also, "lighthouse" projects that hire masses of blind or otherwise handicapped workers.

I know we are talking about on category of City job, but really, even the illegals on the corner now expect about $10/hr. Ain't that a pretty good indicator that if you're getting less than that you are or work for a chump. Dallas generally probably should have a higher minimum wage than TX or the Nation generally. Why not a push for $8/hr for all full time employees who work full time?

Under IKE we have a marginal tax rate of 90% on the highest category of income. Speaking of pay inequality, when a gambler like Mark Cuban gets taxed at 15% and a working man gets taxed at 33% something is unequal. (33% is the 18% income and 15.5% is the payroll tax on his labor)

If you, like I, support the principle of a flat tax, we are undertaxing the rich. Even as marginal rates increase in the upper income registers, they have the ability to move their income to lower taxed avenues. Most of us hand to mouth folk don't have the luxury of float cash to engage in these shenanigans. This tax despairity underlies the absurd reality where several CEO's are paid something nominal--as this would be taxed like we are all taxed--then get huge bonuses that are taxed as capital gains.

These antics are absurd and represent a gross inequality in our system. If a Republican president--who knew and had seen more of the true "horror" of humanity's venality than any other modern President saw the sense of 90% marginal tax rates for the highest tax register, perhaps we should consider a 50% margin on the highest earnings (say in excess of $1 million per yr.? want to say $5? ok.) What the hell can any man do that would merit that kind of pay? I actually have more sympathy for an entrepreneur or someone who builds a company or something. But how a manager could earn these upper registers is absurd.

I am libertarian generally, however, we do have some perversions in our economy. Generally, one will find that these earnings come in fields that are not entrepreneurial but glean their profits from gov't contracts, gov't protected monopolies, or gov't provided access.

Another reform, any corporation of a certain size, I dunno $500 million in revenue, some mid-cap level, should be have essentially transparent books. I understand some consderation for secret formulas and other discretion is understandible, but we need to change our expectations of corporations. If a corporation is a person then incarcerate one. If a corporation is a person then why are there no bigamy charges when they repeatedly merge? We extend them corporate charters, we can ask more for those.

Since the City started accepting just about every kind of recycleable item in the Big Blue Bin, we have absolutely no need for twice a week trash pick-up. Our household has probably 65%-80% recycleable items. Because they only pick up once every other week, our recycle bin is packed full, with an equivalent amount in bags stacked up next to it. Our trash can has never been full since we got the recycle bin. I realize there's only so long the trash can go without being picked up (because of the smell), but I think the City should seriously consider switching the trash and recycle schedules.

Michael, don't be upset with Jim. He's not suggesting anything. He's just pointing out how things work up at city hall. Caraway does exactly what the mayor tells him to, and in return, the mayor hooks Caraway up with the Citizen's Council folks who give Caraway tens of thousands of dollars in campaign donations. (Unless, of course, Caraway and Nye are old frat buddies that we're not aware of. Or maybe Ross Perot was Caraway's best man at his wedding? Caraway and Lively attend the opera together? I'm struggling for any other connection.)

But don't get upset at Jim's pointing out this arrangement between the mayor and Caraway. It sure doesn't seem to bother Caraway, who gladly accepts the money.

Mr. "Prinze,"

I'm pretty sure Jim can answer for himself - he's good about that sort of thing.

Conspiracy theorists like you love this blog, and I understand why. Tin-foil hatters will rejoice at your findings.

I've never had twice a week trash pickup in my life (I don't live in Dallas). Where I live now, it's once a week and recycling once every two weeks. It's more than enough. I've even reduced how much I'm paying by getting a smaller can. Of course to make up for it, my next door neighbor had some much trash, the city is making them pay double for two cans.

Dallas really should cut back to once a week. I'm sure turnover is high so cutting back on the number of employees shouldn't be hard and the fuel savings can pay for the pay increase.

I've heard estimates that 90%+ of all trashman have back problems.