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Issue 052 PDF Version - Christian Ethics Today

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lift dumpsters over the truck cab and empty them into a hopper<br />

behind the driver’s head). The trucks have internal compactors<br />

and when full will weigh close to thirty tons. The fuel<br />

cost for pushing an empty front–end loader down the street<br />

is about one-fifth of the cost of pushing a full one down the<br />

street. Thus routes are designed to begin at the furthest point<br />

from the landfill and work toward the landfill. Part of the<br />

driver’s duty is to make certain that the fewest miles are driven<br />

when fully loaded.<br />

For years the drivers, like all other employees in the refuse<br />

division, were paid on an hourly basis,. The hourly rate was<br />

quite high, intentionally set to combat a specific challenge. It<br />

is difficult to maneuver a large truck in a congested apartment<br />

complex parking lot without doing damage. The solution<br />

was to double their pay, with the absolute warning that<br />

they would be terminated if they had even one accident. The<br />

accidents ceased overnight. The drivers became very careful<br />

because they liked the higher pay.<br />

A new Chief Operations Officer, who had an MBA and<br />

many new ideas, made a study of the comparative costs for<br />

each dumpster lift. He discovered that some of the drivers<br />

were on the clock for over ten hours, while other drivers (due<br />

to various skills), could run their route in six hours. Thus the<br />

company was paying a premium to inefficient drivers.<br />

The proposed solution was to put the drivers back on<br />

minimum wage and provide them additional compensation<br />

for each dumpster they picked up. The slow drivers rebelled<br />

and the speedy drivers thought it was a great idea. The end<br />

result was that the faster drivers requested additional dumpsters<br />

be added to their routes, which reduced the number of<br />

routes by 20%. Since front–end loader garbage trucks each<br />

cost about $150,000, the reduction in the number of needed<br />

trucks resulted in a significant savings.<br />

What was the ethical challenge here? Most of the slower<br />

drivers were older and had relied on their overtime income to<br />

keep children in college, make payments on a home, or meet<br />

other basic needs. By moving them to a different pay schedule,<br />

which management felt was fair to the company, the driver’s<br />

were impacted significantly.<br />

One corporate ethics text described the owners’ ethical<br />

dilemma: “To separate from ‘personal ethics’ any<br />

autonomous area of ‘business life’ where God does not rule<br />

22 • CHRISTMAS 2004 • CHRISTIAN ETHICS TODAY<br />

would be unthinkable in biblical theology.” 22 The authors of<br />

this text offered corporate management some basic principles:<br />

1. God’s law demands justice and truth; 2. There is an<br />

interrelatedness of all things—nothing is isolated from its<br />

effects on others; and 3. A believer must inject biblical ethics<br />

into corporate decision-making.<br />

Case three happened at a point in the company history<br />

when it was not struggling financially. If the situation had<br />

occurred early in the company history, when it was burdened<br />

by significant debt payments, there probably would have<br />

been little sympathy for the older drivers and their loss of<br />

income.<br />

<strong>Christian</strong> ethical principles that apply to the ethical treatment<br />

of the older drivers are found in Stephen Mott’s biblical<br />

ethics textbook: 23<br />

Our ethical behavior is to correspond to what God has<br />

enabled us to be by adoption and grace based on God’s<br />

historical, once–for–all act in Christ’s death and resurrection.<br />

Be (imperative) what you are (indicative) in Christ;<br />

thus we are given an ‘indicative and imperative’ ethical<br />

appeal. We could call it ‘grace and ethics.’ 24<br />

One basic plank of <strong>Christian</strong> ethics is that Love transcends<br />

Justice. Justice can be an instrument of love.<br />

Justice functions to ensure that in our common life we<br />

are for our fellow human beings, which is, indeed, the<br />

meaning of love. (54).<br />

Wherever there is basic human need, we are obliged to<br />

help to the extent of our ability and opportunity. (77).<br />

We are not faced with a dualistic ethic: there is not one<br />

ethical standard for private and intimate life and a different<br />

one for commercial and political life. The same criteria<br />

of judgment apply to both situations, but the latter is<br />

more complex. (184).<br />

Case three presents a classic case of conflict between<br />

doing what is best for the company, which would reduce the<br />

pay of the older drivers in accordance with their production,<br />

or doing what is best for the drivers by permitting them to<br />

maintain the same income for the same work they had been<br />

doing for years. An analysis of the problem might indicate<br />

different outcomes, depending on the person having to make<br />

the decision.<br />

A supervisor with a duty to the company most probably

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