I work as a private contractor for underground utility work in Los Angeles. It is common knowledge among us in the private sector that the DWP will send out six or seven workers to do a job we can do with two. Not only can we do it with two, but we take fewer days to complete the project too.
I had a college friend that worked summers in Michigan for a local water "authority." His job (and the crew's) was to run a video robot between two manholes checking for leaks into the storm drain. He says that they would run the 'bot halfway into the pipe, and then shut it down and drink beer. If a supervisor showed up, they'd fire it back up again in time for him to walk into the "van" and see that they were working.
The supervisors could not check their Thermos containers for booze, either, which was a bonus. Union rules.