Memphis' sanitation and public works employees could soon receive a pay raise.
Leaders of AFSCME Local 1733, which represents the city's sanitation workers, and Mayor Paul Young have been in talks to meet the labor union's demands for livable wages.
On Aug. 4, the union announced it had reached a tentative pay increase agreement with the mayor's office. The changes would bring every worker covered by the union up to a wage of $22 an hour starting Oct. 1, the union said. An additional proposal would increase pay for sanitation workers an additional up to 5% due to ongoing equipment and staffing shortages.
Young confirmed the agreement.
"The Administration has had positive dialogues with AFSCME and have heard their concerns. We have reached an agreement
regarding targeted wage increases and plan to seek approval from City Council," Young said.
The Memphis City Council approved a financing lease related to the purchase of additional solid waste vehicles, capped at a little over $7 million, at its regular Aug. 4 meeting. Pay for employees was not discussed at that meeting, and the wage raises discussed by Young and the union must still be approved by the city council to take effect.
AFSCME Local 1733 leaders urged members to put pressure on City Councilmembers and stressed the importance of progress at an information meeting at the union's Beale Street headquarters.
"My job is important because every day, my crew and I keep the city clean and safe..." Tamara Vaughns, the chapter's chair and a city employee, said at the event. "We serve proud, but we cannot serve our city and be unable to serve our families."
Donning "Respect Local 1733" T-shirts, union representatives told members that these raises were the first step in securing the pay, benefits and retirement they deserved.
"Labor wakes this city up every morning, and puts it to bed every night," Pastor Keith Caldwell of Centenary United Methodist Church, a community organizer, said in his remarks at the meeting.
Annie Goldman covers government for The Commercial Appeal. She can be reached at annie.goldman@commercialappeal.com.
This article originally appeared on Memphis Commercial Appeal: Memphis sanitation workers closer to the pay raises they've been seeking
