Sleeping Queens sanitation worker photographed through the window of his truck.
Posted on 01/23/2011 6:25:43 PM PST by Blood of Tyrants
Health care and pension benefits for state and local government employees are out of control, experts are telling WND, and a new study by a think tank points to New York City as being emblematic of the fiscal crisis.
Taxpayers in the Big Apple are forced to pay $144,000 a year for salary, health and pension benefits for garbage workers, who are unskilled but unionized laborers.
Research by the Manhattan Institute, a think tank in New York, shows that when Mayor Michael Bloomberg took office after 9/11 the city increased spending on garbage workers' salaries by three and a half times the rate of inflation every year, growing the sanitation department budget from $1.3 billion a year to $2.2 billion.
(Excerpt) Read more at wnd.com ...
Not that I think garbage collectors should make way over the average, but $144,000 might be the same as $60,000 in the Midwest. The media, conservatives included, don’t account for the differences in costs of living around the nation, but instead use it as part of their agenda—be it to dump on the unions, or to start class warfare.
are these the same sanitation workers that messed up the snow plowing on purpose and people died?
Sleeping Queens sanitation worker photographed through the window of his truck.
Teamsters would be somewhere in the mid-to-high 30s
“The media, conservatives included, don’t account for the differences in costs of living around the nation, but instead use it as part of their agenda—be it to dump on the unions, or to start class warfare.”
Your assertion is ridiculous. The cost of housing is a big issue but otherwise the cost of living is reasonably similar. The cost of housing is a rather small part of the CPI so housing costs do not justify these ridiculous levels of compensation.
The reason is union thuggery. It was on display during the recent snowstorm. I doubt that $144,000 is a reasonable estimation of the union compensation. Public employee pension agencies do not want to provide reasonable assessment of the value of retirement compensation. With typical pension spiking practices, the true value of the compensation could by $200,000 per year.
“Give a Rat a couple of million for his re-election and get back $900 million in “free” money.”
Or if you’re China, get back a bunch of secret US tech.
This is the second thread today that is linked to the Times and when I click the link, I get a security alert that something is wrong with the site.
Isn’t the Times a ‘pay’ site?
Why do you thing the "cost of living" is so much higher in such areas? It is the artificially inflated wages of even "entry-level" positions that continue to push the costs higher. Just like forcing a higher minimum wage - when everybody is making more money (at least those who keep their jobs after companies cut back...) push costs higher for consumers.
When garbage collectors are taking in $144K in salary and benefits, then it is no wonder a simply 2br. apartment costs as much as the payment on a $250K mortgage payment... and thank the Unions who continue to push these numbers higher.
Times? This article is linked to World Net Daily.
Scratch that, didn’t realize it was WND link. Now I’m confused... *sigh*
yeah..just posted an oops. I don’t know what the problem is but I’ve gotten 2 security alerts today. Never happens so it’s unusual. One was the Times article earlier today and then this one.
What they don't tell you is that the worker was punch-knocked-out by the photographer.
They do the same thing in reverse oddly, in the midwest - for example advocating for higher teacher pay e.g. “among the lowest in the nation”, never bothering to point out the cost of living is much lower.
It is cheaper to rent an apartment here than park a ca in NYC I bet.
Why on earth should a garbage collector make $60,000, let alone $144,000? How much skill and thinking is required to pick up trash, throw it in a truck and drive it to a dump?
Are you out of your mind?
They work long hours. Overtime. And it’s not the guys on the back of the garbage truck that get that kinda money, it’s the driver. He’s the crew chief.
I realized my mistake when I noticed that the man in the picture is actually working for a living.
They make more than me and I have to pay all my exta goodies out of my yearly income. And I am a physician. Funny that.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.