James Bates forced to lay off about 20 employees and end trash services for WMA due to unpaid debts

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.