AUSTIN, Texas — The City of Austin is struggling to hire truck operators to pick up trash and other solid waste.
Ken Snipes, the director of Austin Resource Recovery, told KVUE the department is supposed to have around 400 total operators for solid waste pickup, but right now it is down 60 regular operators and 10 temporary operators due to people leaving at a faster rate than the department can hire people on. Snipes said this is a significant challenge.
“Over the last month or so, I want to say we had, we had five people in the pipeline, not meaning that they would make it, because of always have a number of people who don't make it through training, but we had six resignations at the same time,” Snipes said.
Many cities in Texas and across the country are experiencing the same shortage of drivers. Austin Resource Recovery has not had to cut down on services yet but says if it doesn’t hire more people soon, it may have to curtail services like street sweeping, brush collection or bulky item pickup.
“What we're seeing in some of our partner cities around the state and other places is they're already doing that and curtailing services,” Snipes said. “So, we're fighting hard to keep that from happening.”
Snipes said one reason for the driver shortage is the value that has been placed on a Commercial Drivers License (CDL). There is a big need for commercial truck drivers with construction booming in Austin and companies like Amazon and UPS needing more people to fulfill online order deliveries.
Snipes said he wants people to know the benefits of working for the City of Austin. He said Austin Resource Recovery just increased pay and is looking to increase it even higher. The department is also considering adding a signing bonus to get more people to join.
Snipes said Austin Resource Recovery will give you all the training you need to do the job, including paying for you to get a CDL, which would usually cost a few thousand dollars.
If you are interested in working as a truck operator for Austin Resource Recovery, they are hosting a job fair on Saturday, Nov. 13, from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. at the Kenneth Gardner Service Center on Todd Lane in Austin.
You can also view available jobs by clicking here.
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