Initial findings into whistleblowing complaints about the behaviour and working culture within Cityclean, the council’s waste service, have been presented to the council’s leadership.
The report, written by independent King's Counsel Aileen McColgan, details a service mired in racism, sexism and homophobia where swearing, shouting and threatening behaviour has become routine, including towards managers and senior managers.
The council takes these allegations with the most extreme seriousness and will be taking action on the findings.
The full report is expected to be published before the end of this month, but a four-page summary published today (Thursday 12 October) states:
“A number of witnesses expressed concern about racism at the depot. I heard a number of Cityclean staff had been subject to racist name calling by their colleagues and that a truck had been regularly defaced with racist graffiti while parked in the depot.
“One manager told me that he came into work every day with a bad taste in his mouth because he knew that he would be shouted, pointed and yelled at and people would be storming off and slamming doors.
“What should be straightforward managerial decisions on the utilisation of staff when, for example, people are off sick escalate into morning-long events with members of staff storming off and crews going out hours late.
“One manager described very personal comments having been made about her...
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