Yesterday’s Post Tribune of Northwest Indiana ran a highly entertaining story on a Waste Management Teamster.

The story is a profile of Chris Wilk, 36, a commercial front-loader driver and member of Gary, Ind.’s Local 142, something Wilk is incredibly proud of.

According to the story, Wilk “pulls down $80,000-plus per year with benefits,” and he chalks it up to his contract. “With the union, I make better money,” he said.

While his job with Waste Management and his Teamster contract have afforded him and his family a beautiful home on acreage, he still has to deal with the trappings of hauling other people’s waste day in and day out. Luckily, it’s something Wilk has great perspective on.

When the reporter asks him about the smell on the job, Wilk’s reply was: “You get used to it or ignore it. Nothing really grosses me out. Don’t get me wrong; it’s there. The maggots are bad in the summer.”

The winter, Wilk said, isn’t much better: “This Christmas Eve was one of the worst -- the ice. My nerves were shot. My truck weighs 20 tons empty. You’re within inches of power lines. I also have to thaw out the locks and latches of the enclosures on my commercial route with a torch.”

The story is full of other entertaining and illuminating stories of what waste workers deal with on the job, and why it’s important in this industry to work under a Teamster contract.