Whats going on with the Trash company in New Orleans?
Since the hurricane, New Orleans and surrounding areas had to deal with, and are still dealing with a lot. Entergy finally did their part and got everyone lights on in New Orleans, there are still places like Laplace and it’s surrounding areas that do not have lights still. Though; there is still this looming problem, the trash. You can actually go back to a time before the storm in New Orleans and there was a trash problem. Theoretically speaking, it’s normally a job that people don’t pass up because of the wages. You’re literally handling people waste though and that’s dangerous.
The issue is the wage
In New Orleans, hoppers only claimed to make $10 an hour, despite the information online showing that they make an average of $20. Though looking at the structure of it, it seems it may have to hit certain metrics to receive that rate an hour. This has been causing issues with the residents of New Orleans, way before Ida. We are talking; May/June time frame.
Citizens Strike Back
Now as they basically begged residents to come back to New Orleans, they had to borrow, beg and plead for workers to help the company Entergy get the lights on to the local area. Now there isn’t any workers to pick up the heavy trash from around the neighborhood. A lot of residents homes got damaged, again. So, now residents are taking matters into their own hands. The waste company for New Orleans has designated drop off spots for people to bring their trash. Though with this arose a problem, if you didn’t have a truck you would have to put your waste in your car and drive it to the local center to be disposed of properly. So, a particular influencer by the name of 10th ward buck has partnered with some other local residents and has started their own trash company which has assisted New Orleans a great deal.
The writings on the wall
Researching this, because I couldn’t believe the conditions that was still going on, it looks like New Orleans contracted out two companies to collect the waste for the city of New Orleans. Richards Disposal Inc. and Metro Service Group, had won a low bid in 2016 under Mayor Mitch Landrieu. This saved the city millions of dollars, and they had to make one promise, to pay the workers a livable wage.. which at that time was pinned for $10.55/ hr. Now one of the main reasons the strike was enacted with Metro and Richards Disposal, is that during the pandemic they weren’t getting paid Hazard pay. Which is a general concern of course, they are literally handling our waste. One wrong move and they could catch Covid themselves. So, Richards came to an agreement with the workers to pay an incentive bonus hourly rate of $22 an hour and it could go up to $25. This is what Is saw when researching annually salaries and so forth. Though they openly admit that this isn’t going to last forever. Metro on the other hand, is where the bulk of the strike is coming from. Both companies don’t employ outright, they go through a contracting agency. Honestly, it just looked like the city of New Orleans was looking to save a quick buck and contracted the two worse companies ever. If they’d treat their employees correctly, there wouldn’t be a build up of trash all over the city itself.
Though at the end of the day
Why is it that the citizens of New Orleans, can come together and actually solve a problem that local government officials weren’t. Is their some sort of budgeting issue when it comes to local tax funds and things that are supposed to happen in the city? How does a tourist spot, not have the funds available for situations like this. Why wasn’t things like this planned for, especially after Katrina tore apart New Orleans. It makes no sense that residents are STILL feeling effects of hurricane Ida, and it has been this long. Just hoping that the city can get itself together to make things right. Just be truthful with your residents.
