Trash Crews to Campaign Against Privatization : Services: City sanitation workers will canvass East Valley homes. They say the mayor’s proposal threatens their jobs.

Concerned that their jobs will be eliminated by Mayor Richard Riordan’s push to turn some government services over to the private sector, sanitation workers will go door to door in the east San Fernando Valley this morning to urge residents to oppose privatization of garbage collection.

The campaign comes as Riordan’s aides are reviewing half a dozen city operations to determine whether companies could perform the jobs more cheaply than city workers.

The privatization idea is not new to City Hall. The city already contracts with a host of companies for such tasks as trimming trees, paving streets and operating park concessions. But Riordan is seeking to expand the concept.

In a recent letter to City Council members, Riordan announced that his office has begun the review with the goal of streamlining operations and using the savings to pay for more police officers.

Although the specific areas under consideration are not cited in the brief letter, aides to the mayor said they include trash collection, parking enforcement, custodial work and golf course maintenance.

“We consider this a direct threat,” said Julie Butcher, a spokeswoman for Local 347 of the Service Employees International Union. “Workers are freaked out. We’re not getting rich with our jobs but we always thought we had security.”

After gathering at the East Valley Sanitation Yard at 9 a.m., the workers will fan out into nearby neighborhoods and explain their arguments against privatization.

The service employees union contends that fees would increase, service would decline and many people, most of them blacks and Latinos, would lose their jobs or be offered lower-paying positions if privatization occurred. City trash collectors start at $30,000 and can earn $37,000 after four years, which is more than most private waste haulers offer, according to city officials.

“I lose a lot of sleep at night,” said Kenny Lampton, 35, who has been a sanitation worker for 13 years. “I have two kids, a wife, a house. I don’t want to lose everything.”

Riordan has promised that no layoffs would occur as a result of privatization, saying that city workers could be transferred to other departments or employed by the companies that take over city work. Realizing that any privatization proposals will be controversial, Riordan sent the letter to council members seeking their support.

When Riordan visited Philadelphia in July to study its efforts to contract out government services, Mayor Ed Rendell offered one key tip: Share information early and often with key legislators.

The trash collectors also plan to reach out to the council, which will have the final word on any governmental restructuring. During their sweep of the East Valley, they will urge residents to call their council representatives and voice opposition to the privatization of trash collection.

As an alternative to privatization, Councilwoman Jackie Goldberg has proposed the creation of a committee of sanitation workers and managers to come up with recommendations for improving efficiency in the current operation. The council’s Personnel Committee approved the panel this week.

Meanwhile, Riordan aides are in the midst of another City Hall restructuring.

An 11-member committee has been appointed to find a way to eliminate the Board of Public Works, the only full-time citizen body overseeing a city department. Other departments have part-time commissions that set policy and a general manager who directs daily affairs. Riordan frequently cited the elimination of the board during his campaign as a way of saving money and streamlining operations.

Headed by Charles Dickerson, a Riordan appointee, the committee is reviewing operations in the massive Department of Public Works in hopes of coming up with a more efficient structure by next spring.

Employee unions are resisting that effort as well, complaining that they are not involved in the discussions despite the impact on their members.