Leader – Sweep Stakes

It might seem odd to welcome a new year which begins with a load of rubbish.

But as we cast 2017 on to the trash heap of history, the prospect of 40 school cleaners going on strike to improve their lot can’t but fill one with hope for the future.

Equally heart-warming has been the signs of compromise and reason on the part of the belligerents.

No sooner had the Citizen asked a few basic questions of the cleaners’ trade union, Unite, and (by council proxy) their employers OCS Group Ltd, than efforts to meet the other side half way became apparent.

Mayor Philip Glanville appears to have taken an interest in the dispute and was able to provide information which, had it been shared with Unite earlier, might have avoided the 100 per cent vote (on 60 per cent turnout) for industrial action.

(Here the fault seem to be with OCS Group, which has reportedly declined to speak with Unite.)

Unite’s response to the details of OCS’s position was what you would hope for when new evidence is presented – a shift of position, (though the union is surely right to insisit on serious talks before calling off the strike).

If the Mayor and Hackney Council can play a positive role in brokering a deal between the parties, improving the lives of low-paid cleaners while saving schools disruption, it will be a good start to 2018 and a rebuke to the self-interested bluster of powerful men.