Houston City Workers Have HOPE for a Better Future

[Omaha Steve]

http://blog.aflcio.org/2007/09/18/houston-city-workers-have-hope-for-a-better-future/



by James Parks, Sep 18, 2007

The film “Apollo 13″ made famous the line, “Houston, we have a problem.” Now a group of Houston city workers are telling elected leaders they have a problem with doing the dirtiest jobs in the city for the least pay in the state.

Houston, here is the problem. The workers who crawl through flooded sewer pipes, stand underneath screaming jetliners as they land and work next to 1,200-degree blast furnaces sterilizing sewage have jobs that “you wouldn’t do for pay you wouldn’t take.”

The workers tell their stories on a new website, www.houstonwehaveaproblem.com, launched last week by the Houston Organization of Public Employees (HOPE). The site is aimed at taking city residents behind the scenes to meet real city workers who do dirty, difficult, stressful and sometimes dangerous work to make Houston a better place to work and live.

http://www.houstonwehaveaproblem.com/

On the website, you’ll meet workers like Arthur Proctor, a senior sludge processor who works in stifling conditions decontaminating up to 112 tons of sewage sludge a day. Even though he’s worked at the plant for nearly 12 years, Proctor makes just $15 per hour.

FULL story at link.