Dallas is dropping its long-time garbage collection vendor and hiring new contractors to tackle delayed and missed pickups.
The City Council on Wednesday approved a $54 million, five-year deal with temporary labor firm A & Associates and $18 million for All Temps 1 to supplement the city’s sanitation department with temporary workers to help pick up garbage and recycling.
The change comes as city sanitation officials have warned since June of delays in pickups due to a shortage of temporary workers who ride on the back of garbage and recycling trucks.
One resident told the Dallas Morning News last month that recycling was not picked up from his home for two weeks.
Garbage pickup delays are expected to continue into September.
Currently, some sanitation truck drivers are working on the backs of garbage trucks, and instead of having two haulers working on the back, often they’re down to one worker.
Dallas’ current contract is with the company Results Staffing Inc., which has received $59 million from the city since 2013 to provide 210 people a day to help supplement sanitation staff. They are required to pay at least $12.38 an hour.
The new contract with Florida-based A & A Associates includes a living wage increase to $15.21 an hour, which is what workers in Dallas need to earn a living wage, according to the MIT Living Wage Calculator. Sanitation truck drivers are also set to get a starting pay bump from $16.50 to $20 an hour.
As part of the city’s $4.35 billion proposed budget for the next fiscal year, monthly sanitation fees will increase by nearly $4 to fund pay increase for workers.
The contract with Results Staffing ends on Sunday and the new deal is expected to begin the next day.
Tim Oliver, Dallas’ then-interim sanitation services director, told The News last month that the company had only been providing between 125 to 145 people a day in June and around 175 people before that.
The temporary staffing numbers on average were still below 145 throughout July, the department said.
Oliver said the department has had up to 35 vacant driver positions for at least the last three years.
If garbage or recycling is still not picked up two days after the regular collection day, residents should contact 311.
