Many employees have been “frightened” by the situation of landfills in the province, and the increase in wages is not enough to avoid the stampede
14ymedio, Havana, 25 April 2024 — The garbage collectors hired by Communal Services in Las Tunas to pick up the trash with a horse and cart have protested again because of the low wages and the terrible conditions. “Few have stepped forward to face the work,” the authorities complain, alluding to the 252 who are still collecting garbage in the province. Their taxes were lowered at the end of last year when they demanded “to earn more and sweat less.”
Each cart operator is paid 40 pesos per cubic meter of garbage, and they pay 35% less in taxes. The carts can carry 15 cubic meters a load and make three trips a day, with which they earn, the authorities calculate, 1,800 pesos (some $5 US at the informal exchange rate) on a good day. “But they don’t even want to carry out that work,” complained Elser Prieto, the provincial deputy director of Comunales, in an interview given this Thursday to Periódico 26.
What explains the reluctance of the cart drivers to work with Comunales? Neither the official press nor the manager will risk a hypothesis, but the hygienic situation of Las Tunas, where waste has been accumulating for months, seems to be one of the keys, suggests Periódico 26. In addition, there is the lack of personnel – ideally, about 659 cart operators should be working – and the lack of tools for collection, plus the complication of maintaining a cart and horse, and the risk of disease.
Comunales should maintain two collection trucks and eight tractors, but it only has 2,000 liters of diesel per month
In the province of Las Tunas, Comunales should maintain two collection trucks and eight tractors, but it only has 2,000 liters of diesel per month and, of the tractors, only two work. Most of the collection must be taken care of by horse-drawn vehicles. According to the official newspaper, th
