Seattle trash collectors making nearly $110K, but want more (drug, Indiana, Pittsburgh)

[GuyNTexas]

Originally Posted by thecoalman

I certainly don't look down on what they do but $109K per year is bit of stretch for a job practically anyone can do and then to reject it as not enough is absurd. The only requirement I can think of would be for the driver which would require CDL, basic CDL at least when I took the test is nothing to get. They might even require hazmat license which is little more and also require retesting every year or two but overall no big deal.

The article states a pay rate of 26.29 per hour ... according to my math, that's 54K per year, not 109K. They must have one seriously good fringe benefits package to make up the difference.

I dare say the 109K is the average "cost" per worker billed by the company, and not the amount the employees receive.

So the company and the execs make as much per worker as the workers do, multiplied by the number of workers .... which probably means while most manufacturing and sales are happy with 8-12% profit from cost/revenue .. this company has an 80% margin ... and I'm sure the Union gets a nice chunk too.

[mikeym81]

Originally Posted by GuyNTexas

The article states a pay rate of 26.29 per hour ... according to my math, that's 54K per year, not 109K. They must have one seriously good fringe benefits package to make up the difference.

I dare say the 109K is the average "cost" per worker billed by the company, and not the amount the employees receive.

So the company and the execs make as much per worker as the workers do, multiplied by the number of workers .... which probably means while most manufacturing and sales are happy with 8-12% profit from cost/revenue .. this company has an 80% margin ... and I'm sure the Union gets a nice chunk too.

Here's the breakdown. It's what the company gets billed per employee.
Honestly I work for a private company and get very similar benefits with no Union. There really isn't much here to people to be complaining about but because its Union people like summers will throw a fit.

http://images.bimedia.net/documents/...71924-0001.pdf

[foodyap]

Originally Posted by North Beach Person

Think what you do for a living. Then imagine what happens if it doesn't get done for a month.
Think what garbage collectors do. Then imagine what happens if they don't do their jobs for a month.

I stole that years ago and posted it on my wall to add perspective to smart ass high schoolers who looked down on manual labor and trash collectors.

What does this have to do with the price of tofu?

[Wayland Woman]

Originally Posted by Randomdude

Ive never heard of tax dollars paying for waste pickup. Usually the cost is passed on through the water bill for residential customers, and monthly commercial customers usually rent an overhead container.

I live in a city of 600,000 and I am serviced by Waste Management as well. We pay the company directly for our garage pickup. It's not paid for by tax money or through the water bill. I think you are confusing garage pick up with sewage processing which does get charged through the water bill in most places.

I have two friends who work for W.M. and they are not over paid for what they do. It's hard work and hard on the body, not to mention they work out in all kinds of weather plus people tend to look down on garage men which can't be easy.

[summers73]

Originally Posted by Wayland Woman

I live in a city of 600,000 and I am serviced by Waste Management as well. We pay the company directly for our garage pickup. It's not paid for by tax money or through the water bill. I think you are confusing garage pick up with sewage processing which does get charged through the water bill in most places.

I have two friends who work for W.M. and they are not over paid for what they do. It's hard work and hard on the body, not to mention they work out in all kinds of weather plus people tend to look down on garage men which can't be easy.

People have looked down on computer programmers before the 90's, calling them misfits and underpaid geeks. It should not be a reason to be compensated more. As far as hard work, so is working for a moving company and you can get paid practically nothing for that.

[Randomdude]

Originally Posted by Wayland Woman

I live in a city of 600,000 and I am serviced by Waste Management as well. We pay the company directly for our garage pickup. It's not paid for by tax money or through the water bill. I think you are confusing garage pick up with sewage processing which does get charged through the water bill in most places.

No, if your service is billed through the city, it comes on the water bill. Im not getting anything confused. I used to WORK at a trash and recycling center.

There are two ways a private company picks up trash

1. They bill the city X dollars for tonnage or tips, or per house, and the city rebills that out on the water bill
2. They directly bill out to the customer, which for anything other then roll off or overhead commercial accounts is idiotic. You would not only need to pay about 6 A/R accountants to deal with that, but you would need to pay for all the paper and stamps. Waste Management is a huge national disposal company that already has payment processing centers, and that is probably the only reason why they may bill directly. However, most places are serviced by a smaller regional company, or a local authority.

Originally Posted by Wayland Woman

I have two friends who work for W.M. and they are not over paid for what they do. It's hard work and hard on the body, not to mention they work out in all kinds of weather plus people tend to look down on garage men which can't be easy.

Modern trash collection is not hard work at all. You drive a truck from house to house and push a button. Even with the roll offs the only difficulty is hooking up the container.

[Greatday]

Originally Posted by Randomdude

No, if your service is billed through the city, it comes on the water bill. Im not getting anything confused. I used to WORK at a trash and recycling center.

Modern trash collection is not hard work at all. You drive a truck from house to house and push a button. Even with the roll offs the only difficulty is hooking up the container.

In Las Vegas, trash collection is by a private company, billed totally seperate - payable quarterly.

And it is not mechanized trash collection: Property owners go by their own trash cans, fill them up, workers jump off the back of trucks and lift/empty the cans into the truck - it is pure physical labor.

[Randomdude]

Originally Posted by Greatday

In Las Vegas, trash collection is by a private company, billed totally seperate - payable quarterly.

And it is not mechanized trash collection: Property owners go by their own trash cans, fill them up, workers jump off the back of trucks and lift/empty the cans into the truck - it is pure physical labor.

Notice how I said "modern" trash collection is not a difficult job. Yeah, 1970's trash collection was tough, and the unfortunate few who still work for dinosaur companies that wont go automated get a raw deal. However, I still contend the guys sorting on the stream lines have a far worse job, and get paid close to minimum.

I don't think I'm going out on a limb by saying that there aren't a whole lot of waste companies that collect garbage by hand any longer. Its simply inefficient. It takes longer, requires more workers, opens you up to more workers comp liability, etc etc. Beyond that, its a whole lot cleaner. You don't have the standard 33 gallon cans that tip over with the slightest wind.

[nicet4]

Maybe people should consider working for the Los Angeles Department Water and Power? They seem to pay well.Check this out.

Here's the database of salaries of all employees with name and job title as of 2007.

For a "duplicating machine operator" (someone who runs the copy machine):

Employee NameAscending Job Title Annual Salary
CASTILLO,ROBERT DUPLICATING MACHINE OPERATOR $55,770.48
DUNCAN,STEVEN W DUPLICATING MACHINE OPERATOR $55,770.48
JONES,DARNELL DUPLICATING MACHINE OPERATOR $55,770.48
MAGCAMIT,MAURO P DUPLICATING MACHINE OPERATOR $55,770.48
SISTONI,FREDERICK BERT VINCENT DUPLICATING MACHINE OPERATOR $55,770.48

A "tire repairer" (someone who fixes flat tires) makes $66,064.32 or $33 an hour plus benefits and a very generous world class pension.

There are three pages of programmer analysts here's just the first page.

BALENTINE,ANGELA SCORZAPROGRAMMER ANALYST$103,564.80
BOTNICK,MICHAEL SPROGRAMMER ANALYST$111,311.28
CARLOS,MARINELA PPROGRAMMER ANALYST$103,564.80
CARPINA,CONRAD LPROGRAMMER ANALYST$103,564.80
CASTILLO,XIOMARA WALESKAPROGRAMMER ANALYST$111,311.28
CAYANAN,VINCENT CRUZPROGRAMMER ANALYST$95,672.16
CHAN,GRACE CPROGRAMMER ANALYST$111,311.28
CHANG,JOHN THUANPROGRAMMER ANALYST$95,672.16
CHANG,KARL KPROGRAMMER ANALYST$95,672.16
CHEN,CHEN-HUIPROGRAMMER ANALYST$103,564.80
CHERN,TSUEYPROGRAMMER ANALYST$87,361.92
CHEUNG,RUBY MPROGRAMMER ANALYST$103,564.80
CHOU,WEI CHENPROGRAMMER ANALYST$74,249.28
CHUANG,HUEY-WANPROGRAMMER ANALYST$103,564.80
CLARK-HARRISON,CHERLYN JPROGRAMMER ANALYST$103,564.80
CORDERO,GERARD PATRICKPROGRAMMER ANALYST$87,361.92
CORNELISON,MARY CONCEPTIONPROGRAMMER ANALYST$103,564.80
DURLEY,CHARLES PRINCEPROGRAMMER ANALYST$95,672.16
ESTRADA,DANILO MARTINPROGRAMMER ANALYST$103,564.80
FU,WENDYPROGRAMMER ANALYST$103,564.80
HENDRICKSON,YAUCHIUANPROGRAMMER ANALYST$70,323.84
HILL,BETTY WAI-GITPROGRAMMER ANALYST$111,311.28
HOANG,CARYN APROGRAMMER ANALYST$105,423.12
HOANG,DONPROGRAMMER ANALYST$87,361.92
HORN,KIM DPROGRAMMER ANALYST$111,311.28

Rather than sending out vehicles to be repaired at auto body shops they do their own work in house in order to save the taxpayers lots of money.

AVILA,GILBERT ARNOLDAUTO BODY BUILDER AND REPAIRER$76,044.96
CORTEZ,GUSTAVOAUTO BODY BUILDER AND REPAIRER$76,044.96
GONZALEZ,RAMONAUTO BODY BUILDER AND REPAIRER$76,044.96
KHOSROVANI,TOMAUTO BODY BUILDER AND REPAIRER$76,044.96
MEYER,DAVID SCOTTAUTO BODY BUILDER AND REPAIRER$76,044.96
OROZCO,MANUEL GONZALEZAUTO BODY BUILDER AND REPAIRER$76,044.96
STEWART,FRED CHARLESAUTO BODY BUILDER AND REPAIRER$76,044.96
WATERS,DANIEL RICHARDAUTO BODY BUILDER AND REPAIRER$76,044.96

Basically we are at war with our public employees and while they know it most of us don't.

[Greatday]

Originally Posted by Randomdude

Notice how I said "modern" trash collection is not a difficult job. Yeah, 1970's trash collection was tough, .

The trash collection I speak of is on-going in 2010. "Modern" day.