SWM could fire 42 workers

02-18-2009 | EYRA RODRIGUEZ

perdiodistas@laestrella.com.pa

The company is returning money to clients who paid in advance

Panama Star VERAGUAS. 15 days after the start of the strike by the Santiago Waste Management (SWM,) in charge of collecting garbage in Santiago, Veraguas, the situation looks grimmer, as the company recently announced it could soon fire 42 of its workers.

At the beginning of February, SWM announced it was going on a strike, saying that if the economic problems that have made the garbage collecting service in Santiago collapse were not solved, the company’s workers would be left without a job starting February 20.

Nervertheless, Celmira Quintero, deputy financial manager at SWM, said that even though a work notice was given to the company’s employees, management is still willing to talk and is waiting for a positive response from the municipal authorities regarding the requests that have been made for a subsidy to the company.

Quintero also confirmed that since last Friday, the company started returning money to clients who paid in advance for garbage collection services, which the company stopped at the beginning of the month.

Meanwhile, Edward Moley Ibarra, a Santiago township officer, said that Santiago’s Municipal Council was holding meetings to decide whether the contract with SWM would be terminated.

Ibarra said the meetings would also authorize Santiago’s mayor, Ruben Patiño, to hire more garbage collecting trucks and to name qualified personnel to be put in charge of keeping the commercial areas of the city clean.

Since last Tuesday, given the disagreement between the municipality and SWM, the Municipal Council approved hiring some garbage collection trucks to service the businesses and living quarters in the area temporarily.