Memphis Mayor Jim Strickland announced today that the City will provide financial support to 1968 sanitation workers.
Fourteen living 1968 sanitation workers— four of which still working in the field today—
will each be awarded $50,000 grants.
Mayor Strickland says the plan to provide more financial security to these 14 men is a “nearly $1 million commitment to do the right thing.”
Also announced today, pending City Council approval, the City will create a new retirement plan for sanitation workers starting after 1968.
In 1968, these workers upon retiring were given the choice of social security or the City’s pension plan, and chose social security, which has proved to not provide enough funds for the workers to support themselves.
Now, the City will supplement social security and deferred compensation plans based on length of employment, matching up to a 4.5 percent of the employee’s contributions.
