29. According to Donahue in his book The Privatization Decision, "But efficiency, at base, is merely one aspect of a more fundamental quality—accountability—. The term suggests the idea of taking 'into account' the consequences of one's actions for the welfare of others" (20) Government, which represents the public at large, has a special obligation to be accountable to public values. In this capacity, each government needs to carefully weigh the decision to privatize "by the yardstick of fidelity to the public's values, whatever they may be. If the citizenry cares about how goods and services are produced, about how equitably they are distributed, about the pay, benefits, and working conditions of those who produce them, then any legitimate measure of efficiency must incorporate these concerns" (20).

30. In most developing countries, municipal solid waste service involves labor-intensive street sweeping and waste collection techniques. Because labor costs are relatively low, labor intensive techniques are appropriate. There are roughly 2,000 solid waste workers for every 1 million urban residents in developing countries, with labor intensity ranging between a high of about 5,000 per million residents in some Central Asian cities and a low of 1,000 per million residents in some Latin American cities (10, 73).

31. Local governments in developing countries have typically provided patronage through jobs in the municipal solid waste agency. As a result, the solid waste employment roles are bulging with extra employees, many who are scarcely productive and others who do not produce at all. In addition to the problem of patronage, technological changes have led to labor redundancy. As urban areas become densely populated and travel time to disposal sites increases, local governments tend to change from labor-intensive refuse collection systems, which use pushcarts and open trucks, to capital-intensive systems, which use compaction trucks. Few cities, however, take any parallel steps toward reducing labor redundancy in their refuse collection work force.

32. One expected outcome of privatizing solid waste services is that government employment roles would be reduced. This, however, is not necessarily the case. Excess employees are commonly clerical staff and refuse collectors and sweepers with a long tenure (ten to twenty-five years) of government service rather than refuse collection truck drivers and laborers (11). Moreover, in many developing countries, government employees cannot be terminated without cause. The discontinued need for the employee, limited performance by the employee, or even excessive absenteeism, is commonly not considered adequate justification for laying off a government employee (11, 23, 62). Where layoffs are permitted as local governments' needs change, governments typically are to pay solid waste employees a severance pay of one to two months salary for every year of government service (11). After privatization of solid waste service, there is seldom the money or political will to do more than to shift government solid waste workers to another department and to retain most of the office employees in place.

33. Over the short term, the role of government as employer needs to be weighed as part of the private sector participation decision, given the recognition that the direct and indirect costs of high unemployment are significantly borne by government. Nevertheless, for the long term, it generally makes more economic sense to reduce the roles and to pay appropriate severance pay to the government workers who are asked to leave their jobs.

34. In many developing countries, solid waste workers in the private sector are paid much less than government workers, enjoy fewer vacation days, and receive fewer benefits (11, 20, 29, 58). Because the jobs in the private sector are less secure, the private sector workers may also work much harder. The extent to which government may wish to exploit these disparities between public and private sector workers is one of the social issues involved in deciding whether to privatize.

35. Because government solid waste workers typically have job security, the average age of the government worker is higher than the average age of the private sector worker. Solid waste collection is an arduous job. In developing countries, an average collection worker will lift and load daily from 1 to 3 tonnes of solid waste. In industrialized countries, an average collection worker will lift and load two to three times this quantity, because the loading process is facilitated by better designed equipment. Studies in the United States have shown that an older work force is less productive than a younger work force. Comments from solid waste managers in developing countries also indicate that the same is generally true (11, 56). This raises a social issue, especially in labor surplus countries wherein these essentially older, unskilled workers might not have other work opportunities available to them if they are removed from the municipal solid waste service.

36. After the turn of the twentieth century, labor unions came into being in industrialized countries. The impetus for their creation was a response to an unrestrained free market economy that rested heavily on the exploitation of an unskilled labor force that included child labor. Through this self-organization of labor into a collective bargaining power, working conditions and wages were upgraded. In turn, labor unions contributed to the development in industrialized countries of a dominant middle class, which includes skilled and unskilled laborers.

37. Much of the thrust of private sector participation, both in major cities of industrialized countries as well as in Latin America, is in reaction to the negotiated wages, benefits, labor restrictions, and job security obtained by union labor. While it is sometimes true that unions' requirements might limit productivity and escalate costs in the solid waste management sector, it is doubtful whether "union busting" through complete privatization is the solution. Nevertheless, introducing private sector involvement in a portion of solid waste service area might be enough to advance negotiations with labor unions and to obtain a reasonable level of cooperation. Given that the primary objective of most developing countries is to promote the evolution of a middle class, governments need to examine how to conduct private sector participation in a manner that does not widen the gap between the rich and the poor.

38. Most of the earlier discussion centered on government's need to be accountable for fair, safe labor practices. In this light, some local governments are anxious to turn solid waste collection over to the private sector to avoid accountability. Municipal solid waste service is highly visible and uncollected waste generates strong sentiment among constituents. After privatizing, government is prone to blame the private sector whenever citizens are unhappy with the service being received. Because solid waste management is a complex service that involves optimizing the productivity of vehicles and workers, politicians may long to escape dealing with it and take an arm's-length approach.