30 April 2024 – Green Party candidates for the Queen’s Park and Kemptown city council by-elections Thursday 2 May, Luke Walker and Ricky Perrin, are calling on the Labour Party to be honest with residents and apologise for the involvement of Labour councillors in reinstating employees sacked for bullying at CityClean, the troubled council-operated waste collection service.
Luke (pictured) and Ricky say that residents are frustrated by the poor performance of CityClean and that the toxic culture exacerbated by previously sacked workers being re-employed is one of the causes of this poor service.
They echo Green councillors who recently called for a ‘root and branch’ reform of the way employment appeals are managed and the relationship between councillors and union representatives.
An independent report by senior barrister Aileen McColgan KC commissioned by the council last year concluded there was a culture of bullying, misogyny, homophobia and violent intimidation in the CityClean workforce at its main Brighton depot.
Labour councillors who were members of the GMB union which represents many waste service workers served on employment appeal panels to consider cases where the GMB appealed a decision on behalf of one of its union members, which could be a conflict of interest.
Greens say that it cannot be right that Labour councillors who were members of the GMB Union, including some who made declarations about receiving donations from the union, played such a significant role in employee decisions about GMB representatives who had been accused of unacceptable behaviour at the depot.
The KC report makes clear that allegations of political interference extended beyond member appeal panels and it is not acceptable for Labour councillors to refuse to address conflict of interest concerns that have impacted on such an important service in the city.
Three CityClean employees were reinstated by Labour councillors who served on a personnel appeals panel, despite the Labour Party’s close links to GMB union.
Luke Walker: “There are questions to be answered by Labour on its councillors’ union affiliation and possible biased decision making when serving on these employment appeal panels which the McColgan report was very clear needs addressing”
Queen’s Park Green candidate Luke Walker said, “Greens will defend workers’ rights. We strongly support trade unions and their members. With CityClean, the evidence of a prejudiced workplace and bullying culture identified in Aileen McColgan’s report must be sorted. We believe this goes to the heart of the poor performance of the service over recent years.
“We welcome the decision to end the practice of councillors voting on employment appeal tribunals given the potential for conflict of interest.
“Councillors should not be involved in an employment dispute where they are linked to one side or another by political, professional membership or other affiliation and did not recuse themselves from participating.
“But we need to go further. There are questions to be answered by Labour on its councillors’ union affiliation and possible biased decision making when serving on these employment appeal panels which the McColgan report was very clear needs addressing.
“As Labour are now running the council, they have a duty to be transparent about their links with unions and other interested groups and what that means for workers’ welfare and for people’s waste and recycling services in the city.
“These independent reports into the actions of Labour councillors, which Labour tried to cover up and are only now emerging through Freedom of Information requests, show that there is a public interest to know more about the relationship.”
Luke added, “We also urge the Labour-run council to publish a 2019 union investigation into workplace culture at CityClean (the Doherty report) which we believe may help the council address some of these workplace problems. So far the Labour administration has refused to release the report. The waste depot’s workplace culture is failing and the city deserves full disclosure if public confidence is to be restored.”
ends
The KC report into the CityClean workplace culture is available at: https://www.11kbw.com/knowledge-events/news/brighton-hove-investigation/