The Nation - News from Aug. 19, 1986

Trash collection in Houston was halted as about 900 sanitation workers, angered by increased workloads and a 3% pay cut, called in sick, officials said. “They’re calling in with stomachaches and headaches and hurt feet and just about everything you can come up with,” said Preston Booker, a Solid Waste Management Department district foreman. Of 1,100 people working for the solid waste department, 159 were dismissed, and routes were lengthened by 20% on Aug. 1, the second round of Mayor Kathy Whitmire’s planned layoffs.