Unison Inverclyde says No to School Cleaning Cuts

School Cleaning Cuts

• The decision to reduce non-hygiene area cleaning by 1 day per week is an extremely serious issue that can have various consequences.

• By agreeing to a reduction of 11.3 posts, this will affect 20-25 employees due to the part time/term time nature of contracts.

• Variations in the school curriculum can result in classrooms being used for multi-purpose activities including; cooking, food preparation, painting, play dough etc. As a classroom is designated as a non-hygiene area, reduced cleaning will have an impact on learning within the school. Children could be expected to undertake these activities on tables that have not been cleaned or carpets that have not been vacuumed.

• Cleaning staff are often advised to vacuum carpets only if they appear to require cleaning. The reduction in cleaning of non-hygiene areas will potentially compound an already existing problem.

• Attendance levels within schools could be affected and children put at risk, especially if they have underlying health conditions such as asthma or other dust allergy problems.

• Children in school spend a part of their time sitting on the carpet during direct teaching, story time and playing learning games. With the reduced cleaning this will also have an impact.

• The council has recently invested in our school estate with a combination of new and refurbished buildings. A reduction in cleaning reduction will have an impact on the cleanliness and wear and tear of these new schools.

• Staff members in schools are already reporting incidences where bins are not being emptied and carpets not being vacuumed due to restrictions in cleaning hours. Teachers and learning support staff will undertake internal cleaning tasks routinely.

• Currently teachers and other learning support clean worktops and sink areas often bringing in their own cleaning materials.