Opinion: Demands on garbage truck drivers

One St. Petersburg garbage truck driver has two off-duty DUIs and two license suspensions. It hasn't hurt his employment. He was assigned to a different job each time he lost his license, and once he regained it, he returned to guiding 16-ton garbage trucks through the city's narrow alleyways and streets.

That's not an exception in the St. Petersburg Sanitation Department. Another driver had his license revoked for 180 days after an off-duty DUI incident that killed a pedestrian. That same employee also tested positive for marijuana on the job, yet he is still a garbage truck driver today.

According to a recent story by Times staff writer Bryan Gilmer, most of the city's 66 garbage truck drivers are responsible employees and the department has a decent overall safety record. But a few have been an embarrassment. Fifteen drivers have had three accidents or more each, both on and off the job, in the past 10 years, and 11 drivers have gotten four or more traffic citations. One driver has had 17 citations, including three charges of driving with a suspended license and three speeding tickets.

The consequences for the city can be serious. A reckless garbage truck driver can do great damage to property and people, and a driver's record could be used against the city in any legal action. The city has paid $483,146 for damage done by garbage trucks over the past four years.

Why are the worst drivers tolerated? Blame can be placed on paternalistic policies by administrators and an aggressive union. "I am kind of protective of my employees, even when they screw up," said Sanitation Director Chuck Schauer. But that doesn't set a very good example for drivers who obey the rules. The union's attitude is even more indefensible. When it comes to drivers being promoted, "the safety record doesn't have anything to do with it," said Frederick Winters, president of the local chapter of the drivers' union. Such union tough-talk damages public support for the department.

It's a shame that the inability to discipline a few bad drivers could bring criticism to the entire department. St. Petersburg's Sanitation Department offers a respectable career path for workers who have nothing more than a high school diploma. Although employees start at the bottom, doing manual labor, those who stick around and earn a commercial driver's license can become garbage truck drivers, who make $30,000 to $50,000 a year.

That is inducement enough to demand the best of the city's garbage truck drivers.

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