ECJ EUROPEAN Cleaning Journal

Glasgow's street sweepers are pushing for more investment in the council's service in order to keep their city's streets and parks clean.

And the group of cleansing workers and GMB trade union members involved are calling for more support for their "Save our Streets" campaign.

GMB convenor for Glasgow's cleansing workers Chris Mitchell says the union has been highlighting its Save our Streets campaign since 2015.

"We need a recovery plan in the city which is going to benefit everybody, not just the few," he said. "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."

One street cleaner who has been sweeping Glasgow's streets for 20 years says the city is in the worst conditions he has ever seen.

"The place is in absolute shambles," he said. "We are just going from street to street and tarting it up a bit. We are launching our campaign because we need more investment from the council. I'm hoping they're going to listen to us this time."

A Glasgow City Council spokesperson claims that improvements to the street cleansing operation is among its top priorities.

"Despite significant financial challenges facing local government we have taken on 40 permanent street cleansing operatives in the past year and are recruiting a further ten," he said.

"We have also established deep clean teams, who undertake a rolling programme of work across all council wards."