San José Garbage
Strike is Over
The garbage on the
streets of San José has
been piling up due to a
strike by garbage
collectors which came to
an end yesterday after
their demands were met.
The news of a garbage
strike was a surprise to
many residents who say
their garbage pile up
and not knowing the
reasons, many blaming it
on the rain.
However, garabage
collectors in San José
have been off work since
monday demanding pay for
extra hours worked which
the municipality has not
paid its collectors for
over a month.
In addition the garbage
collectors demanded that
the garbage trucks be in
good working order, as
the leased trucks are in
the worst of conditions,
according to Minor
Meléndez, president of
the Asociación Nacional
de Empleados Públicos y
Privados (ANEP).
Meléndez said that the
municipality has been
promising new trucks for
almost a year and has
yet to deliver.
The municipality
currently pays a private
company ¢11.500 colones
an hour for the use of
the trucks, which
according to Meléndez,
are in the worst of
condition in appearance
and mechanical state of
repair.
Marco Vinicio Corrales,
manager of the Proyectos
de la Municipalidad de
San José, listened to
the garbage collectors
and yesterday afternoon
signed a deal with them,
promising to fix at
least 15 trucks and pay
the workers they back
pay for the overtime.
According to Corrales,
the piled up garbage
will all be cleaned up
by the end of the week
and that by December the
Municipalidad will have
at least seven new
trucks at a cost of ¢80
million colones
(us$155.000) each.
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