Cleaning cuts are still on the cards at Stirling Council offices

Jul 1 2009 by Kaiya Marjoribanks, Stirling Observer Wednesday

A REQUEST to put on hold proposals for a shake-up of cleaning at Stirling Council’s Viewforth headquarters appear to have been dismissed.

The Observer reported last Wednesday how there were fears that around six of an estimated 20 cleaners employed in the buildings could be affected by either redundancy, redeployment or a cut in hours.

And there were further concerns about the impact on the working environment and whether the new structure would allow the cleaners enough time to do a thorough job.

At a meeting of the council last Thursday SNP councillor Alasdair Macpherson asked why there had been no consultation with elected members on the issue.

He also sought assurances that there would be some kind of briefing for councillors on the impact of the proposals on the cleaners and asked that the proposals be put on hold until September.

However, council chief executive Bob Jack said there had been a considerable amount of information made available to councillors dating back months.

He added: “The cleaners’ review is nothing to do with the organisational review taking place within the council.

“In terms of consultation with members, there was a budget savings briefing in which it was discussed that a substantial sum of money was to be found from the council’s office estate.

“It was discussed in detail through the council’s strategy group, including the cost of cleaning.

“That proposal has been around for some time and was finally adopted in the council’s budget in February.

“Since then discussions on the proposals have taken place with the affected trade unions and these are ongoing.

“At the moment there are no concrete proposals for redundancies or a reduction in hours but we are looking to see how the savings could be achieved.

“If we put these discussions on hold that would be another aspect of the budget that we are not achieving.

“As ever we are endeavouring to avoid any redundancies and can assure Councillor Macpherson that we will take forward the consultation with the corporate services portfolio holder.”