Op-ed: Durham Solid Waste Workers on Strike 9/09/2023

Since September 6th sanitation workers have walked off the job in protest in Durham, NC. If your first thought is "they're just asking for a hand out" after hearing this you have an asinine perspective of human worth. The second the strike started these people risked financial well-being as well as potential job security. These folks are oppressed to the point of working two jobs, sleeping in workplace parking lots and forgoing meals. Sanitation work is one of the least desirable positions but without them the backbone of modern society collapse. So I ask people who think this is a hand out movement why should these civil service workers be martyrs to society?

Antonio Smith, a Durham solid waste department maintenance tech struck another nerve for a local who was repulsed to the idea of sanitation workers status could be compared to law enforcement. The idea "Police officers risk their lives every time they go to work [...] just for going to work," only pushes a larger narrative of the invisible class-based society found in the United States. If one was to take a step back and properly think through the actual job of a sanitation worker, they constantly are in hazardous positions throughout the day.

In April of 2021, a garbage trucks caught on fire in Durham near Atlas Apartments. No one was injured and the firefighters were able to stop it from spreading to the apartments. In May of 2020 four garbage trucks exploded in Durham due to a natural gas combustion in one truck. Any time someone improperly disposes of a lithium battery or throws away flammable products such as paint, gasoline, electronics, the chances for a disaster for these workers increase. These workers might not be on the front line like police but their danger hides in the trash bags they collect.

I additionally want to mention that these garbage trucks drive through the same streets police officers patrol. In the first 3 months of 2023 Durham homicides were up 13% year over year according to the Durham police. The community blames the fact that the city's police force is understaffed and underpaid. Sound familiar?

There's a notion in the United States that "I got mine, so why should I help you get yours." Why must we as a society look our nose down at any job we irrationally deem lower than our own as if raising minimum wage to a livable age hurts our ego so much that it's better for our neighbor and society to continue to suffer. You got yours but who takes care of your trash now that the strike continues and how long until you start packing it into your own truck and taking it to the dump?

Sources: https://www.wral.com/story/garbage-truck-fire-in-durham-threatens-nearby-apartments/19648150/ https://www.wral.com/story/garbage-truck-exploded-caught-on-fire-at-durham-waste-industries/19082730/ https://www.wral.com/story/durham-s-homicide-rate-soars-ahead-of-police-chief-s-crime-presentation-to-city-leaders/20866674/