City signs off on plan to hire 401 new Sanitation workers

Wanna-be sanitation workers who have waited a long time for their numbers to be called off the civil service list got some good news last week.

The city has agreed to let the Sanitation Department hire 401 new workers over the next few months to beef up the agency’s thinning ranks.

Sanitation Commissioner John Doherty said he is hoping to create four classes over the next four months to get new workers trained far ahead of the snow season.

“Our budgeted number at this point is 6,124 and we’re down to about 5,880,” Doherty told The News. “It’s a reasonable number and a compromise between being able to do the job and budgetary constraints.”

Doherty pointed out the agency had 6,029 sanitation workers in December 2011 but dipped down to 5,891 less than six months later.

“It’s a very physical job and it takes a toll on the body in 20 years,” said Harry Nespoli, president of the Uniformed Sanitationmen’s Association. “That’s why they leave as soon as they can get a chance to leave.

Nespoli said he was happy to learn the department was hiring workers but thinks it could use even more.

“It’s not enough for me,” said Nespoli. “I think you need like 6,800 to fight a major storm or a major blizzard. But this will get us back up to where we feel is a good workable number.”

The city and the union are anxious to put behind memories of the massive December 2010 storm that left many New Yorkers stranded.

“I think they don’t want to get caught short like they did two winters ago,” said Nespoli.

New sanitation workers go through about three weeks of training, ranging from lectures and classroom work to hands-on practice at Floyd Bennett Field.

“It will be good to get some fresh blood into the department,” said Doherty.

If you are on the current sanitation worker list, here is some important information:

l The current list, established in Feb. 2008 is #6063. It was extended to Feb. 2014.

l The last appointment, according to the city, was #1,549.

For more information check the Department of Citywide Administrative Services website at www.nyc.gov/dcas.

JOHN FRANCO T—SHIRTS RETURN

Former New York Mets hurler John Franco has always embraced his roots with the New York City Department of Sanitation.

They were a part of his celebration and his speech as he was inducted into the Mets’ Hall of Fame on Sunday.

Franco’s father, Jim, was a sanitation worker who died on the job of a heart attack in 1987. He paid homage to him by often wearing an orange Sanitation Department t-shirt under his Mets uniform.

Those t-shirts, which included Franco’s name and number 45 on the back, routinely sold-out when they were first offered at Shea Stadium back in 2000.

At the time, Franco told me he was thrilled to know fans were anxious to don the t-shirts as a show of support.

“It’ll touch my heart, really,” he said during an interview on the field at Shea in October 2000. “I’ll have mine on, too. My father gave his heart and soul to the job.”

And now, the t-shirts are back.

Franco recently visited his father’s former garage, Brooklyn South 11, to thank the workers and highlight his charitable work.

The shirts are for sale at www.johnfranco45.com. A portion of the proceeds are being donated to the DSNY Sanitation Employees Community Fund which provides education funds for the children of sanitation workers who died in the line of duty.

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