WALTHAM FOREST: Bid to oust street cleaning company

9:02am Thursday 16th October 2008

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By Claire Hack »

A PETITION has been launched to oust Kier as street services provider in Waltham Forest.

It calls for Kier to be “kicked out” and for the service to be brought back in-house by the council.

“Council tax payers are appalled at the service they are receiving,” said Darren O’Grady, secretary of Waltham Forest Trades Council which has started the petition.

“We live in the borough or work in the borough and we see our streets getting worse and worse.”

The trades council has also accused Kier of putting profit above public need and said it has almost halved the number of agency-employed street sweepers from 95 to 50.

It has even been suggested that the death of one Kier worker, who died of a heart attack on October 5 while on duty, may have been because of the stress brought on by his job.

A shop steward at the Low Hall depot, who wished to remain anonymous, said: “We suspect the pressure at work contributed to his death. He’d had no illness until then and nothing to say that he was unwell.

“Staff are being pushed around left right and centre. A couple of weeks ago, we had a mass meeting where we said if it continued, we were going to take industrial action and nothing’s improved.”

There are also claims of sexism towards female staff and bullying amongst the workforce.

“The morale at Low Hall is at rock bottom,” Mr O’Grady added. “You could cut the atmosphere with a knife and there were three punch-ups here last week.”

He also claimed staff were routinely victimised, including one man who is disabled.

“It’s absolutely shocking treatment,” he said.

“We have contact with the trades unions and we know from our contacts in the local council that conditions are getting worse.”

The news comes after dozens of residents approached the Guardian with complaints about Kier and about the state of their streets.

In response to the allegations, a spokesman for Kier Street Services said: “Kier Street Services are shocked and saddened by the sudden and tragic death of a popular and highly thought of member of our team.”

The spokesman added that the “personal tragedy” was not related to the carrying out of day-to-day duties and that the Health and Safety Executive had not been involved.

He continued: “Kier takes any allegation of bullying or sexual harassment very seriously.

“Waltham Forest Trades Council has not approached us with any evidence relating to these allegations.

"If there is any evidence, we would welcome receiving it as quickly as possible for immediate investigation.”

The spokesman also said that Kier often meet with trade union shop stewards and that they actively encourage allegations to be brought to them so that they can be dealt with promptly.

“Considering the seriousness of these allegations we would be delighted to hear from Waltham Forest Trades Council regarding this matter,” the spokesman added.

The petition to oust Kier can be found at gopetition.com/online/22543.html