SOLVED. Science Fiction short story, on an automatic planet the sewer workers are shunned, even though their job is nothing but working a computer station. [s]

[Brian]

The narrator visits a space colony where everything is automated and jobs are hereditary. The man who runs the sewage treatment and his family are shunned because of his disgusting job, even though it's all done by machines and all he does is operate a computer. He goes on strike, shutting down the colony's sewers until the colony accepts him and his family as equals. The residents would rather die than associate with a sewer worker. The narrator steps in and operates the machinery until the strike fails and the sewer man returns to work. However, now the narrator, having worked in a sewer plant, is now a pariah and he has to leave the planet.

[Bargle]

That's "Strikebreaker" by Isaac Asimov. Collected in Nightfall and Other Stories by Isaac Asimov.

Note to self: correct answer.

[Brian]

Thanks, Bargle!