Glasgow cleansing workers officially launch campaign to “Save our Streets”

Glasgow’s street sweepers have officially launched their latest “Save our Streets” campaign in a bid to address the issues facing the city once and for all.

At the Western Depot on Tuesday, a small number of cleansing workers and members of the GMB trade union called for support in their latest push for more investment in the cleansing service to keep the city’s streets and parks clean and tidy. Before repeatedly chanting “save our streets” cleansing convenor Chris Mitchell vowed that the workers would never sit back but fight back for the benefit of the city.

Last week, the Scottish Labour party announced it would be beginning a “recovery commission” to reboot the city over claims of filthy streets but the GMB who has been highlighting the issue for at least eight years says this project should be for everyone and not just a few. Glasgow City Council also says enhancing the street cleansing operation is a “priority” and despite financial challenges they have taken on 40 permanent street cleansing staff in the last year.

Chris Mitchell, GMB convenor, said: “We have been highlighting the Save our Streets campaign for years – since 2015. We need a recovery plan in the city which is going to benefit everybody, not just the few. It should not take an event to “kick start” the city’s recovery process. Tourists and visitors are coming here and they are telling us how bad the city is.”

Speaking about Labour’s latest plan to launch a recovery group Chris added: “We have been highlighting this for years. Someone has got to take full responsibility for this. We are all trying our hardest as cleansing workers but we are under a lot of pressure – we don’t have enough street sweepers to keep Glasgow’s streets clean.

“It is great to see people coming into the city for the UCI World Cycling Championships this summer but we need to look out for the cleanliness of our streets in the town centre. We are Scotland’s largest city and communities are suffering because of how bad it looks.This city should be clean 24/7. We need more funding and more money to be put into the cleansing services.”

A GMB cleansing worker who has been sweeping Glasgow’s streets for around 20 years and does not want to be named, claims that the city is in one of the worst conditions he has seen. He said: “We are just going from street to street and tarting it up a bit. The place is in absolute shambles. We need more investment from the council. We are launching our campaign today and I am hoping the council is going to listen to us this time.”

And Labour councillor Paul Carey, BEM, who is backing the campaign, is adamant that more boots are needed on the ground to tackle the issue. Councillor Carey has supported the GMB in their quest to clean up Glasgow since they launched their first campaign a number of years ago. He said: “The GMB has been highlighting the issues in Glasgow for some time.

“What is still frustrating me, is there is still nothing being done, regarding the state of the city. My constituents are still complaining about litter and I have been in touch with senior officers again to address this. This council seems to be a “reactive” one and not a “proactive” one and only reacts when a complaint comes in. They have created new community coordinator posts in place instead of putting boots on the ground.”

Glasgow City Council is now working to recruit ten further posts in street cleansing including night shift staff. A spokesman said: “Enhancing our street cleansing operation is a priority for the council. Despite the significant financial challenges facing local government, we have taken on forty permanent street cleansing operatives in the past year. We are now also recruiting for further ten posts in street cleansing, including for a number of staff who will work on our night shift.

“In the past year we have also established our deep clean teams, who undertake a rolling programme of work across all council wards that aims to address stubborn environmental issues in local communities. Along with the City Makers initiative that helps to support people back into the jobs market while dealing with environmental issues that fall outside routine maintenance work, we are determined to ensure public spaces in Glasgow are kept in good condition. To maximise the efforts of our staff it is vital that members of the public play their part by disposing of their waste properly every time.”