kac@ihlpg.UUCP (k. conlee) (07/23/85)
> > Except that the garbagemen have a union, and > > hence get paid several times what the poor McDonalds' counter slaves get. > > Surely this is unjust. > > -- > > Henry Spencer @ U of Toronto Zoology > > Another reason why McDonald slaves get paid so little is that most of > them are too young to receive minimum wages (what an understatement! > McDoonad's fortune is based on the exploitation of child labor). One > would hope that EPFWEQ would contain provisions to end discrimination > based on age. McDonald and gang are certainly rich enough to be able > to pay decent wages or at least minimum wages. > -- > Sophie Quigley > {allegra|decvax|ihnp4|linus|watmath}!utzoo!mnetor!sophie Garbagemen deserve all that they can get. As being an ex-garbageman I can tell you that it is a physically demanding job, with a high rate of on the job injuries (including muscle pulls, cuts, stress fractures, aching joints, . . .). Garbagemen never really get a day off because they always must pickup 5-days a week (i.e. you can not skip an entire area for one week especially the commercial customers). So a 3-day holiday weekend just means that a garbagemen will work Tues-Sat with all routes pushed back 1-day. And garbagemen that work 6-day weeks will work Tues-Sat with a double-Sat. There are no weather postponements like all other trades (i.e. If it rains hard all day the garbage will still get picked up). Next time we have a -25 degree day or 100 degrees in the shade with high humidity or a cold drizzle at 40 degrees or the morning after 20 inches of snow just remember that the g-man's day is never called off. And I can tell you about some of the pigs that do not know how to put out garbage and think that their stop is the only place that the g-man has to stop today, but that's volumes. Thanks in advance for an opportunity to tell another side of a situation. Keith A. Conlee Follow up note: I was a concrete laborer for a long time before becoming a garbageman because of mid-70's housing slow-downs and in MY opinion, the physical demands of a garbageman are 5X that of a concrete laborer (doing walls).