A New York is still missing several months at the first snowfalls, but the city has already begun to look for people to call when there will be need to free from snow bus stops, pedestrian crossings, waterers and other public spaces. This year the work will be paid 30 dollars per hour, which will become 45 after the first 40 hours worked in a week.
The Emergency Snow Shovelers have existed for years and are used by the Department of Sanitation during the most intense snowfalls to support municipal staff. The novelty is above all what will be paid: last winter the ordinary tariff was 19,14 dollars per hour and that beyond the 40 hours of 28,71 dollars. The new basic pay increased by almost 57 percent.
The city also decided to change the way spalators are recruited. In the past much of the assumptions happened when the snow was already planned or was falling, with thousands of people called to register quickly in the garages of the Department of Sanitation. From this year the inscriptions begin in autumn, so you have a larger team ready before the arrival of winter.
The first appointment to register will be Saturday 19 September, from 9 to 17, at Taft High School, at 240 East 172nd Street in the Bronx. Other meetings will be organized later in the five boroughs and will be announced by the Department of Sanitation.
To apply you must be at least 18 years old, be legally allowed to work in the United States and be physically able to perform heavy outdoor work during difficult weather conditions. We also need a valid phone number and email address, the Social Security card and the necessary documents to fill out federal and state tax forms and verify work authorization.
From this year it will no longer be necessary to present itself with printed photographs, as previously happened: they will be taken directly during the registration.
Those who will complete the registration by 30 November will be able to participate in a four-hour training in December, also paid. After the course the spalatori will be assigned to a garage of the Department of Sanitation, taking into account the needs of the different boroughs and, when possible, preferences on the area to work.
This is not a job with guaranteed hours. Emergency Snow Shovelers are summoned when a snowfall is important enough to request additional staff and the number of hours depends therefore on the weather conditions and the needs of the city.
The work is mainly about the points that the snowy means cannot free themselves. Spalators are used to remove snow and ice from pedestrian crossings, bus stops, waterways, public stairs and other passages that must remain accessible after a storm.
The decision to organize the program several months in advance also comes from what happened last winter. During the strong snowshoes of February the city quickly expanded the number of available spalators and increased the compensation to $30 per hour during the emergency.
Over the course of the season more than 7,800 New Yorkers recorded the program. According to the data reported by the city, the Emergency Snow Shovelers together with the staff of the Department of Sanitation helped to release a total of about 135 thousand pedestrian crossings, 34 thousand bus stops and 29 thousand waterways.
During one of the most intense snowfalls in February the Municipality had tripled in a few days the number of people available, simplifying the registration procedures. Mayor Zohran Mamdani explained then that the requirements for identification and authorization to work could not be eliminated because they are people hired and paid by the city and are therefore subject to the normal federal rules on employment.
But the experience has shown another problem: hiring thousands of people while a storm is already in progress means having to check documents, assigning workers to the garage and managing payments at the same time when the Department of Sanitation is committed to freeing the city from snow.
The new Emergency Snow Shovelers system serves to move these procedures before winter. For those who register by November and complete the training, the Municipality also aims to accelerate payments, with the aim of getting the compensation within two weeks of the work done.
The city will continue to use its employees and the means of the Department of Sanitation first. During large snowfall, municipal operators normally work on 12-hour shifts and thousands of means are used to spread salt and free roads. The emergency spalators intervene especially where trucks and snow sweeps cannot arrive.
L’articolo New York already looks for spalatori for the winter: from this year will pay $30 per hour proviene da IlNewyorkese.
