Community Rallies to Support Sanitation Workers
by Helen Cox | August 27, 2014
AFSCME Local 3294 member Randolph Brown and his family attended the Commission meeting.
South Miami, Fla. – A show of support by residents, who joined city workers in a march on City Hall, convinced the South Miami city commissioners to unanimously reject efforts to outsource residential garbage pickups, a major victory for Local 3294.
The day before the vote, city commissioners listened intently to residents who said sanitation workers are like a part of their family, and how they would rather have their taxes raised than to see services suffer through outsourcing. Workers discussed how the contractor, Waste-Pro, would lower labor standards not only for sanitation workers but across the board.
Randolph Brown, a sanitation worker, attended the City Commission’s meeting with his family, teaching his children the value of standing up for themselves and coming together.
“They tried to force Waste-Pro on South Miami. At first, they didn’t want to listen to residents but when they saw our numbers, they went the other way,” he says. “There’s power in numbers.”
“It’s about the people and the quality services they provide,” said 40-year South Miami resident and retired educator Nancy Wilson Young. “Now the commission knows that residents value our sanitation workers and that we’ll be back if they try anything again.”
Although the South Miami outsourcing fight was put to bed, outsourcing threats were revived in North Miami Beach and Hialeah’s sanitation departments.
“Our local and the community we serve have put a stop to outsourcing before and we can do it one more time,” said Janice Coakley, president of North Miami Beach AFSCME Local 3293. “I have faith we’re going to beat it back by standing together.”