The city of Chattanooga is preparing to follow the private sector’s moves to get the employees it needs.
Mayor Tim Kelly said last Tuesday the budget he’ll submit to the city council this week will raise pay for qualified recycling, trash and brush collection drivers by about $14,000, or 45%, to address a staff shortage.
In late July, the mayor suspended the city’s curbside recycling pickup service because of the shortage. Last week, he explained he moved recycling drivers to garbage and brush pickup because their service either is mandated by law or done for safety purposes.
The city, according to Kelly, is short 32 drivers for its various services, and he hopes the new salaries, plus the city’s generous benefits package, will fill the gap.
The mayor is doing what a number of successful United States companies have done over the past half decade to attract the workers they desire, who, in the humming pre-COVID economy, had their pick of jobs. Now, with vaccinations allowing the economy to resume much of its heat, jobs again are plentiful, and workers can be selective.