Garbage workers are paid well | Hacker News Reader

Garbage workers are paid well

money.cnn.com

16 pointsjamessun11 comments

Given the typically early hours, possibly awful conditions, and nature of their jobs, I'd say they're also paid fairly.

Additionally, my assumption is the garbage collection industry is similar to ISPs – meaning options are limited based on location and prices are therefore not as competitive.

Edit: I'd add lack of upward mobility to the first sentence.

It's a bloody hard job. Bad hours. Dangerous. Low social value.

This article comes across as if they are getting paid too much for being 'lowly' garbage men. So what if they don't have a degree, It's hard work that is vital for a functioning society and they should be compensated accordingly. Good on them for etching out a living without having to get a degree doing so.

A turning point in my perception of the culture around software engineers (from mostly positive to negative) occurred during the last garbage strike when I witnessed the majority my overwhelmingly well-paid and relatively (compared to people who sling garbage cans full of rotten food and dog poop into trucks in the hot sun...) not-hard working coworkers rant freely about how overpaid garbage workers were. The sense of entitlement was obnoxious. That strike and the public's reaction to it turned the mayoral election results from left to right, and we had to suffer through Rob Ford for the next four years.

I mean...yeah. They do the work no one else wants to do, hence the supply is low and demand is high, so the employers have to pay more. Makes sense.

unions?

Most Hacker News commenters don't understand the dynamics of unions. Don't bother trying to explain it to them, they are too smart to understand.

Please don't post unsubstantive comments, such as snarky generalizations about the rest of the community. If you want to explain something, that's great; if not, it would be better to post nothing.

market forces

Not that I'm saying unions are the answer, but in a broad definition, unions are part of market forces. As is cooperation between companies. It just happens to be that the US prefers to introduce regulation with the stated intent of moving the economy closer to "perfect competition". Although clearly some regulation moves us toward monopoly, and all regulation has unintended effects, and obviously stated intent is different than actual intent. Phew. So many disclaimers in this comment...

Nothing says "market forces" like Unions.

Unions are a market force.

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