Street cleaners reinstated by city council after being made redundant ‘at random’

THREE street cleaners in Edinburgh have been reinstated to their jobs after they were reportedly chosen for redundancy by having their names randomly picked out of a cereal bowl.

In total seven out of 13 agency workers for the City of Edinburgh Council lost their jobs as budgets were cut.

Four staff were chosen for redundancy through performance analysis and another three reportedly had their names randomly picked out of a cereal bowl.

A spokeswoman for the council said: “We needed to downsize in order to make budget savings. We made a decision on who to let go from our temporary workforce on the grounds of performance in four individual cases.

“The manager, in consultation and agreement with the staff, decided that the best way to agree on the remaining three positions was by random selection.

“We felt that this was a fair and transparent way to decide, although it would appear that not all staff now agree, so we have decided to revisit this.”

The council said all seven workers have been temporarily reinstated to their positions, but the contractor, Blue Arrow, will still have to find seven people to lay off, meaning the same workers could again find themselves out of a job.