All of my life and up until just a few weeks before his death, my dad listened for the sanitation workers who served his home in Richardson, Texas.
When he heard their trucks in the alley behind his house, he would spring into action. Laden with cold drinks and ice water, he would insist that they stop, take a break and enjoy some refreshment. He appreciated what they did for all of us. Not to honor their hard work was for him, well, intolerable. My father respected workers.
I suppose I got it from my dad--the whole notion that labor, hard work deserved to be honored and, even more certainly, to be rewarded with fair wages.
When he heard their trucks in the alley behind his house, he would spring into action. Laden with cold drinks and ice water, he would insist that they stop, take a break and enjoy some refreshment. He appreciated what they did for all of us. Not to honor their hard work was for him, well, intolerable. My father respected workers.
I suppose I got it from my dad--the whole notion that labor, hard work deserved to be honored and, even more certainly, to be rewarded with fair wages.
Doesn't always seem to be the case these days, does it?
Along these lines, Dallas City Council Member Angela Hunt captured my attention last week when she rode on a sanitation truck for part of a day out in the Pleasant Grove section of Dallas.
Click on the title line above and you'll be redirected to The Dallas Observer blog where you can read Sam Merten's entire story (the photo here comes from this source). I'd love to hear your reactions, as always. By the way, thanks for the report, Sam!
Ms. Hunt believes that city employees should be paid a living wage. That concept is increasingly elusive to more and more Dallasites, as is true across the nation today.
As I read the Observer's blog on the story, I was blown away by the disparity in pay between the drivers and the trash movers working in the back of the vehicles. Drivers earn between $11 and $18 an hour and are city employees. The trash haulers on the street and back of the truck are "temporary workers," earning minimum wage and often working over 12 hours daily. Again, check out the blog for more amazing and disheartening details about fair wages, working conditions and Dallas sanitation services.
One more fact: many of the guys "on the back" are ex-offenders who have a hard time finding work anywhere else. As a result, they are left to take jobs like this earning low wages. Can anyone spell recidivism?
Along these lines, Dallas City Council Member Angela Hunt captured my attention last week when she rode on a sanitation truck for part of a day out in the Pleasant Grove section of Dallas.
Click on the title line above and you'll be redirected to The Dallas Observer blog where you can read Sam Merten's entire story (the photo here comes from this source). I'd love to hear your reactions, as always. By the way, thanks for the report, Sam!
Ms. Hunt believes that city employees should be paid a living wage. That concept is increasingly elusive to more and more Dallasites, as is true across the nation today.
As I read the Observer's blog on the story, I was blown away by the disparity in pay between the drivers and the trash movers working in the back of the vehicles. Drivers earn between $11 and $18 an hour and are city employees. The trash haulers on the street and back of the truck are "temporary workers," earning minimum wage and often working over 12 hours daily. Again, check out the blog for more amazing and disheartening details about fair wages, working conditions and Dallas sanitation services.
One more fact: many of the guys "on the back" are ex-offenders who have a hard time finding work anywhere else. As a result, they are left to take jobs like this earning low wages. Can anyone spell recidivism?
Ms. Hunt, you are correct when you say, “Let’s pay these guys a decent wage so that they aren’t forced back into crime to make ends meet.”
I won't tell you about the city's idea regarding GPS systems and sanitation trucks! You'll need to read Sam's story to pick that one up.
I won't tell you about the city's idea regarding GPS systems and sanitation trucks! You'll need to read Sam's story to pick that one up.
Again, I'll wait for your responses.
I'll tell you one thing for sure. My dad wouldn't be pleased. And, frankly, I believe he's in a better place to judge such things than he was a few months ago.
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I'll tell you one thing for sure. My dad wouldn't be pleased. And, frankly, I believe he's in a better place to judge such things than he was a few months ago.
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