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发帖数: 43471 | 1 The $100,000 job: Garbage workers
When Noel Molina smells trash, he smells money. Lots of it.
Molina and his co-worker, Tony Sankar, have been picking trash together for
a decade in New York City.
They've seen, and smelled, it all. Stale fish, footlong rats, dead pigs and
cows. Countless drunks have heckled them. And yes, one time Sankar saw a
human leg in a dumpster.
They work the graveyard shift -- 7 p.m. to 3 a.m. -- rain or shine, ice cold
or burning hot.
And yet, they love their job. Part of the reason is they get paid well for
their hard work.
"Your trash is my money," Molina, 32, says with a baby-faced grin.
Molina made $112,000 last year as a garbage truck driver and Sankar made $
100,000 as a helper, riding on the back of the truck. Their wages have grown
in eight of the last nine years, according to their bosses, brothers David
and Jerry Antonacci, owners of Crown Container, a waste management company.
Related: Workers' rage over move to Mexico caught on video
Molina dropped out of high school in the 10th grade and he's worked at Crown
for 10 years. He says his starting salary was about $80,000. Sankar too
dropped out of school before migrating to the U.S. from Guyana 20 years ago.
Not everyone makes six figures, but most trash workers are doing better than
high school dropouts and even graduates.
Nationwide, the annual salary for a garbage truck driver is $40,000,
according to the Labor Department. Across all professions, high school
dropouts earn about $24,000, while high school graduates make $30,000
annually, according to the U.S. Education Department.
Molina and Sankar are aware that they outearn many people with a college
degree.
Guys who go to college might not make the kind of money "(I make) on the
back of a garbage truck, picking up trash," says Sankar.
garbage workers animation
Related: The $100k job: Be an apprentice
Not only do they earn a good salary, their wages are growing faster than the
average too. Nationwide, wages for trash workers have grown 18%, which is a
lot faster than the 14% average for all workers since the recession ended
in June 2009.
That's because it's not easy to find workers in the business. Employers can'
t find qualified truck drivers, landfill operators or mechanics.
David Antonacci says he got 50 applications when he advertised for a truck
driver's job. Only four applicants had a commercial drivers license and all
four had penalties on their licenses. So Antonacci couldn't hire any of them.
Related: Yelp CEO responds to employee letter on low wages
That lack of available talent is one key reason why Antonacci and others in
the industry have given out raises at a faster pace than the national
average.
It's the same story in other parts of the country. Kathy Morris runs a waste
management facility in Davenport, Iowa, and she's raised wages to retain
employees.
"Not only has the demand for workers increased but (so have) the types of
skills," says Morris, director of the Waste Commission of Scott County. The
landfill operators at her site make about $50,000 a year.
garbage worker more money
Related: British oil industry warns it may collapse
It's far from an easy job. Beyond the stench, Molina and Sankar lift heavy
trash bags every night, weave through traffic, and talk to each other
constantly for safety. They work a lot too -- 55 to 60 hours a week.
Outside of physically grueling work, negative stigmas deter young adults
from applying even though the barrier for entry isn't high: private trash
companies don't require a high school diploma. Truck drivers need a
commercial drivers license, which some employers will train employees for.
But there's job security, says David Biderman, executive director of Solid
Waste Association of North America, the association that represents
thousands of waste management workers.
Biderman argues the waste industry offers long-term job security for working
class folks. Both Molina and Sankar have full health care coverage and a
401(k) retirement account. If they leave the job, they are entitled to
severance pay too.
Related: Why you should worry about cheap oil
garbage truck guys smiling
Noel Molina and Tony Sankar,
"We're one of the very few blue collar jobs that can't be outsourced to
China," he says.
There are also new opportunities in trash. New types of recycling have
created more jobs. At Morris' site in Iowa, she has a crew that only
separate recycling for wood, roof shingles, kitchen appliances and
electronics.
Morris has 45 employees now, up from 35 in 2009. Morris plans to hire six
more people this year to handle a new recycling system.
Nationally, there are 50,000 more trash workers today than there were in
2010, according to Labor Department data.
Given the shortage of workers, some of them can hope to earn the six-figure
salaries of Molina and Sankar, who are members of a labor union that helps
negotiate higher salaries.
Related: 1 million Walmart workers get a raise
Molina is buying his first house, a 4-bedroom in Freeport, New York.
Divorced with three kids, Molina wants them to have a place outside the city.
Sankar, 48, supports eight of his nine kids -- the oldest is an adult.
On a cold February night, Sankar and Molina were on their route when a young
man asked Sankar if Crown was hiring. Sankar gave the young man the company
's address and said to call. When told how much Sankar makes, the young man
was in disbelief:
"No, I wouldn't believe that."
Sankar picked up the last bag at the site, chucked it into the back, jumped
onto the truck and smiled.
"It's a good paying job," said Sankar, laughing into the winter night. | l****t
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