Outdated job classifications and training requirements work like an anchor on efficiency — something municipalities can’t afford when pressed to do more with less. Wastewater officials in Marietta, Ohio, developed a solution: Work with union officials to reclassify certain employees and increase workplace flexibility, and motivate workers to become state-certified technicians.
Wastewater department officials worked out an agreement about two years ago with Teamsters Union Local 637 that changed the job title of wastewater tappers to wastewater service technicians, allowing them to work both in the wastewater plant and in the collection system, says Steve Elliott, wastewater superintendent.
Changing times
During earlier decades,
