A municipal sanitation worker collects household waste in a residential street in Qalaat Saleh, Maysan governorate, during his morning shift. Photo by 964media.
Maysan sanitation workers say they earn just $100 a month
MAYSAN — Municipal sanitation workers in Qalaat Saleh say their monthly pay does not exceed 150,000 Iraqi dinars ($100) for six days of work each week under the “petro” employment system.
Ali Thamer begins his day at dawn, heading to the streets of Al-Zahraa and Al-Hurriya Al-Ziraeiya neighborhoods to collect waste. He and his colleagues gather at 7:30 a.m. at the municipal garage before heading to their assigned areas. Work runs from 8 a.m. to 11 a.m., six days a week.
Despite the demands of the job, Thamer said the monthly salary remains limited. The 150,000 dinars he receives amounts to roughly 5,000 dinars ($3.30) per day, an amount he said barely covers basic expenses.
The municipality relies on “petro workers,” employees hired through allocations derived from oil revenues granted to oil-producing governorates. Under this system, a portion of federal oil income is distributed to local administrations to fund services and short-term employment. Workers hired under this mechanism are not part of the permanent civil service.
Residents often cooperate with sanitation crews, sometimes offering breakfast or small sums of money, but workers say their official pay remains unchanged.
Salah Hassan, head of the monitoring department at Qalaat Saleh Municipality Services, said the district employs 221 petro workers, each earning 150,000 dinars per month. An additional 15 workers are paid on a daily wage basis, earning 300,000 dinars ($200) per month.