Lieber was in Sunnyvale on Dec. 29 to meet materials sorters from the Sunnyvale Materials Recovery and Transfer Station. She came to discuss their problems with their employer, Green Team/Zanker, who has a contract with the city to run the station.

The sorters—who manually separate recyclable goods from household trash—get paid $8 an hour and don't get any benefits. But the prevailing wage in the area is $13.50 with benefits, and pay in areas such as San Francisco is as high as $18 an hour with benefits.

"[The demonstration was] another step, and we have to keep going to make sure we get to the part where the workers get paid their prevailing wage," Lieber said.

Lieber—who first learned of the workers' problems four years ago as a councilwoman in Mountain View—also got her hands dirty, learning about the job by sorting recyclable materials from bags of trash on the 29th.

"These workers are really doing a valuable service to their cities, and they ought to be paid for their services," she said.

On Aug. 11, drivers, equipment handlers and sorters from the SMaRT Station took to picket lines outside the station and Sunnyvale city hall to protest Green Team/Zanker's refusal to pay the prevailing wage set for workers in the area. In July, the Department of Industrial Relations determined that the wage for sorters in the area was close to $13.50 an hour, with benefits—an improvement over the $8 an hour with no benefits that the sorters currently earn at the SMaRT Station.

"This is an ongoing problem, and they need to treat people the way that they would want to be treated," said equipment operator Thomas Mendoza. "We need this settled, we've waited long enough."

Days after the strike, the city sent a letter to Green Team, informing them that—as per their contract—they were required to pay their employees the prevailing wage, even if it were set after the contract was signed, as was the case. The city asked Green Team to come up with a solution to the breach of contract and did not receive a satisfactory answer.

Sunnyvale Communications Officer John Pilger said Green Team was given a month to come up with a solution to the problem, and during the course of that month, the city found documents that questioned the way the Department of Industrial Relations set prevailing wage.

The prevailing wage of workers in a particular job is based on the existing pay of employees at the company in the area with the largest number of workers in that particular job. During the determination, Pilger said, as far as he knows, the number of employees listed at the SMaRT Station was lower than the actual number employed.

In November, the city asked the Department of Industrial Relations to review the prevailing wage determination, to make sure it was accurately reported. Pilger said they anticipate an answer within the next few weeks.

Robert Morales—Secretary-Treasurer of the Sanitary Truck Drivers and Helpers Local Union No. 350—said the delay is less a procedural problem, more an example of the city bowing to pressure from Green Team's legal team.

"This law was effective in July, and in November they decide to challenge it? Five months later? That's unheard of," Morales said.

Ironically, If the actual number of employees at the SMaRT Station is found to be larger than other companies in the area, the SMaRT Station's $8 an hour with no benefits would actually become the prevailing wage, and Green Team/Zanker would not be required to change their pay.

But that is just one possibility. The prevailing wage of $13.50 and benefits could be upheld, and then Pilger said the city would take action.

"If a higher wage is found by the Department of Industrial Relations and if Green Team/Zanker does not pay it, then the city will find them in breach of contract," Pilger said.

And while Pilger said the city is not stalling or dragging its heals, Morales said the city is neglecting its workers, something he hoped to get across by continuing to work with Lieber.

"This is the time to do this, so the public is aware that this is a city that refuses to help its people," Morales said.

Morales said that in San Francisco, sorters doing similar work can make up to $18 an hour with full benefits, more than twice the pay less than an hour away from Sunnyvale.

San Jose resident Emilio Escobar, 20, said the $8 he makes how sorting at the SMaRT Station is barely enough to support his family. Six of the 10 people in his house have to work just to get by. Escobar said he doesn't have the money or coverage to get help for the back pains he has from working 40 hours a week sorting materials.

"If they paid us the $13.50, we'd be able to get a decent car, live better, pay rent," Escobar said.

Lieber said her next move will be to meet with city councils in Sunnyvale, Mountain View and Palo Alto, the three cities served by the SMaRT Station, to work with them on protecting the workers sorting their garbage.

"We're going to continue to put pressure on the city councils in the responsible cities," Lieber said. "These families are all in need. We heard today that many are living in poverty in the middle of the Silicon Valley."