ST. CROIX — In a move that will impact house-to-house garbage collection for more than 4,000 homes and all the housing communities on St. Croix, Bates Trucking & Trash Removal will lay off about 20 employees and cancel its month-to-month contract with the Virgin Islands Waste Management Authority at the end of the year due to significant unpaid debts.
James Bates, owner of the trash removal company he started in 1990, said he decided to sever his ties with WMA and lay off the employees who service those routes to save his business because WMA has repeatedly failed to pay him.
“This is it for me,” he said. “December 31 is my last day. I won’t be able to pay my employees if I don’t put them off right now.”
Lorna Nichols-Minkoff, WMA spokesperson, said WMA expects to receive funds from the government any day now to pay down debt owed to multiple vendors.
“We’re waiting for government funds to pay those vendors,” she said.
Even if WMA receives its most recent allotment from the government to pay vendors, Bates said the payment to him will not be sufficient.
“Every year it is the same thing,” he said.
After delaying a recent threat to strike over the untimely payments because he was assured the money was on its way, Bates said he learned his company would only be receiving $100,000 toward a larger debt.
“They owe us much more than that,” he said, declining to say how much WMA owes. “I cannot be going out on a limb all the time doing work for the government and knowing they’re owing and knowing that I’m not going to get paid.”
After December 31, Bates said he will no longer pick up trash from all the housing communities on St. Croix as well as from homes in various neighborhoods, including Strawberry, Tan Tan Terrace, Sion Farm, Barren Spot, Rattan, Peter’s Rest, Anna’s Hope, and Sion Hill. He said WMA would need to pay all owed amounts and remain current on payments moving forward to resolve the issue.
Bates said he has about 10 employees who will remain on staff to provide trash-hauling services for commercial clients like gas stations and restaurants as well as private residents. He said he must lay off about 20 employees who cover the WMA routes since he will be discontinuing those services. He emphasized that the decision to lay off his employees dedicated to the WMA contract was not an easy one, but the financial realities left him no choice.
“They’ve been good employees, but I can’t just go and continue and put myself out on a limb and not get paid,” he said. “The regular employees will be having payless paydays if I don’t put a stop to it now. So, before I get deeper in the well, I just have to stop right now.”
