Cleanzine: your weekly cleaning and hygiene industry newsletter 2nd May 2024 Issue no. 1112
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Cleanzine - the original Cleaning & Hygiene industry e-news
Read by industry professionals in 163 countries worldwide!
Cleaning - or several different aspects of it, has been in the news a lot this week...
Tuesday saw the first ever coordinated action by four trade unions, against outsourcing, together with High Court action aimed at improving the lot of those employed on outsourced contracts. Read more about #CleanUpOutsourcing below.
There was, for a while at least, hope for Birmingham residents when refuse workers suspended their strike action in favour of peace talks. Unfortunately, the two sides failed to reach a deal to end the action - brought over what the Union says were 'secret payments' and the blacklisting of refuse workers. The strike was due to resume today.
Interserve, which holds many huge UK public sector contracts including hospital cleaning, published its full-year figures yesterday. These show losses of some £111m on top of the debts already accrued. Its proposal to spend some £76m on restructuring advice hasn't gone down well with some major shareholders, so there could be trouble ahead. I hope things can be worked out as there's a lot at stake and the contractor has enjoyed a good reputation and has a number of Award wins under its belt. I'd like to share its latest restructuring announcement with you, but because of Cleanzine's global circulation (to 163 countries) we could get ourselves into trouble by divulging information to readers the law bars from seeing it, so please visit: www.interserve.com - where you may (or may not, depending upon where you live!) learn more about the company's plans.
Try as I might I can't find any information about the brand/s of vacuum cleaners being used to remove hundreds of pounds worth of cash from several of London's parking metres. Whatever you might think about the thefts, you have to agree that equipment's doing a great job and I wonder whether some enterprising manufacturer or other may at some stage use this story of incredible vacuuming power in its marketing material.
Finally, it's only a couple of weeks until the cleaning show and if you haven't booked your stand in the hope of getting a cut-price deal, it's not happening! Show sales director Vanessa Van Santen Smith agrees that offering last minute deals is the worst thing a show organiser can do; it undermines the brand and destroys trust. There are still a couple of stands available so don't miss out on exhibiting your wares at this busy show! See the ad below for details.
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Yours,
28th February 2019