Legal issues surrounding raising the pay of day laborers

I would like the Dallas City Council to address some legal issues while the council members are considering forcing a private company to pay their workers more for picking up garbage and also while the council considers an even more important, although related, issue which is whether my garbage pickup schedule should be cut in half.

Let me address the second issue first. The council will consider this idea Wednesday which is whether more areas of the city should be scheduled for once a week garbage and recycling pickup. Today, most of the city is on a schedule of twice a week garbage pickup and once every other week recycling. However, that part of North Dallas located north of LBJ and west of North Central Expressway went on the "one-and-one plan" earlier this year which has resulted in an increase in recycling in those areas. Where each household averaged recycling 28 pounds before the switch, each now averages 51 pounds. The next area to switch to this schedule is that part of Dallas located roughly south of LBJ, west of North Central and north of I30. That switch is to take place next February. Phase 3, the area located east of North Central and north of La Vista/Garland Road, is to take place February 2010. That would include my area, that small forgotten area of Dallas that is located north of LBJ and east of North Central. My particular neighborhood is unique in that, for whatever reason, we can't have rollcarts. We still must use the old black bags for trash and the blue bags for recycling. And finding blue bags around here is not easy -- our neighborhood has to go to a lot of effort to recycle. The upside to this is that we already have once-a-week recycling pickup.

But I digress. The briefing to be presented to Council Wednesday will recommend that both Phase 2 and Phase 3 be implemented immediately. The briefing argues that the money saved by this implementation could be used by the Council to raise the pay of the day laborers who pick up the garbage without further increasing the proposed sanitation rate hike currently in the City Manager's proposed budget. The current proposal calls for a sanitation fee increase of $1.45 per household/per month and that's if Phase 2 is implemented (it would be higher if Phase 2 isn't approved). The cost of paying the day laborers the amount being considered by the Council would raise the rate another 27 cents a month. However, if the Council goes to Phase 3 immediately, there is even a possibility the sanitation rate increase could be lower than the $1.45 now being considered. Neat, eh?

Well, not so fast. I am concerned about legal and liability issues in raising the wages paid these workers. Here are questions I would like asked of our city officials (and hopefully answered).

1. Does the company that has the contract to provide say laborers to sanitation have contracts with any other city departments and, if so, could the city legally raise the wages of those laborers sent to work for the Sanitation Department and not those assigned to work for the other departments?

2. Can the city legally demand Company A pay more to day laborers sent to work for the Sanitation Department without requiring Company B to pay an equal amount to day laborers sent to work at other city departments? And, if the city can do this, does it incur potential liability for instituting such a plan?

3. This is more of a constitutional question: Since the federal government assumes the right to set a "minimum wage" does the city have the right to demand the minimum wage a private company pays its employees? And, if so, does that mean it will be required legally to demand every company who wishes to bid on a city project be prepared to pay its employees that minimum wage?

4. And if the answers to these questions are what I think they might be, what will be the financial impact on the City of Dallas?

These are just some things I was thinking about on a lazy Sunday afternoon while watching the opening of the English Premier League season and pondering where I might get my hands on some blue bags.