Shoogler Posted August 11, 2006 Report Share Posted August 11, 2006 The SIC department who awarded the contract have a responsibility to ensure the contractor is paying the minimum wage, and upholding any other employment law (Working Time Directive, etc), so an enquiry via your local councillor would be a start. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JustMe Posted August 11, 2006 Report Share Posted August 11, 2006 Surely the issue here is the minimum wage. Golders are offering minimum wage to foremen, so are hardly likely to be paying even that much to their ordinary workers who are, I understand, Eastern European. Isn't this against the law? Who do you complain to? Does anyone in the council have responsibility to check what Golders are paying their staff, or is this something to report to the Inland Revenue? Minimum wage allows a lower rate of £3 for people under 18 and £4.25 for people 19 to 21yo. Ever wondered why some places employ a lot of young folk. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Anonymous Posted August 11, 2006 Report Share Posted August 11, 2006 At the rate the are cutting here, and if they have to do 10 cuts, then I calculate their last cut will be on30th November. But I suppose they maybe take Global Warming into the equation. By the way, nothing to do with Golders or local firms, but still on the subject of grass. Why has the council stopped cutting the verges?? I assume it is to save money, but I fear it may cost lives. Twice lately on narrow roads I have had a near miss. Once when I nearly ran into another car, and once when I almost didn't see kids playing on the verge.Scared the crap out of me both times, and in both cases if the verge had been cut there would have been no problem. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Njugle Posted August 11, 2006 Report Share Posted August 11, 2006 Is the verges not an environmental issue? I seem to mind that a couple of years ago it became illegal to pick wildflowers on the verges? ( Not that i would want to, well maybe once, but, ahem, i did have a lady friend in the car, honest so i did get some......erm, appreciation) So i canna see shredding them with a tractor being too acceptable? Or am i wrong on all counts? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Anonymous Posted August 11, 2006 Report Share Posted August 11, 2006 Well when I was yonger I had many a lady friend in a car and I never called it pickin flowers .It was never an environmental issue either,,,, perhaps a very essential issue Seriously I can see that wild flowers are important, maybe, but life is a slightly higher issue. But I suppose if the council can use an environmental excuse to safe money then they will look good.Anybody who thinks I am wrong just take a drive through the side roads this weekend.. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ghostrider Posted August 12, 2006 Report Share Posted August 12, 2006 By the way, nothing to do with Golders or local firms, but still on the subject of grass. Why has the council stopped cutting the verges?? I assume it is to save money, but I fear it may cost lives. Twice lately on narrow roads I have had a near miss. Once when I nearly ran into another car, and once when I almost didn't see kids playing on the verge.Scared the crap out of me both times, and in both cases if the verge had been cut there would have been no problem. I would hope they'd be around literally anytime now to cut them, they've done them in the latter half of August the last year or so at least. They were around and did the insides of corners that were assumedly "deemed"?!? by somebody a safety issue, I'm going to say around late June, but that's just a ballpark statement as I didn't really pay much attention to exactly when it was, just that they'd been done. If they want to preseve the flooers I don't see why they needed to change when they cut them, just cut them higher. Say, leave a length of 4-6 inches or so standing, that length isn't going to be troublesome for road vision, and anything that grows taller is virtually all weeds and girse seed heads. Bulments, kecksies, tisels, cocksfit an' such hellery! It's not that they can't, back in the day when the Cunningsburgh boys did them we a Fergie Fingerbar it was to the ground or nothing, but their fancy trimmer on a neb can get in to more shapes than an eel in a panic, and cut in them all. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
peeriebryan Posted August 12, 2006 Report Share Posted August 12, 2006 A quick reply on the subject of verges and wild flowers As a grasscutter, I regularly receive the wrath of environmentalists regarding our 'murder' of wild flowers. I'm expecting the annual "in The Garden" article and accompanying letters to the Shetland Times sometime soon The fact is, wild flowers thrive in short grass. (In a natural environment, areas of short grass are those grazed by animals or in soils too poor for grass to dominate) Where ever practical, the cutting of verges is timed to allow the flowers to bloom and seed Ever wondered why there are so many wild flowers on the regularly cut verges in the first place? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Anonymous Posted August 12, 2006 Report Share Posted August 12, 2006 Environmentalist Treehuggers who don't like verges cut should be taken to the Black Gaet Range and shot to save on the damage that broken clays may do to the natural habitat of the lesser pissed off shetlander. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ghostrider Posted August 12, 2006 Report Share Posted August 12, 2006 Environmentalist Treehuggers who don't like verges cut should be taken to the Black Gaet Range and shot to save on the damage that broken clays may do to the natural habitat of the lesser pissed off shetlander. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
petergear Posted August 24, 2006 Author Report Share Posted August 24, 2006 The flower beds still haven't been touched yet. They should have 10 visits over the course of the summer. This is us well into August now. Great going. I had been hassling Infrastructure Services about the flower beds for some months. No-one had done any weeding, nor pruning. It looked awful. The specification reads, "Unmulched beds shall be forked to a depth of 100mm and/or hoed and raked to...present a neat cultivated appearance." The other day, instead of weeding the flower beds, Golders have strimmed the weeds . They haven't even raked up the strimmed weeds, which are left in rotting piles (the spec reads "all weeds shall be cleared and disposed to an authorised disposal facility"). Why are the Powers That Be within Infrastructure Services letting them away with this? This situation has become farcical. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Anonymous Posted October 14, 2006 Report Share Posted October 14, 2006 Update,The grass on our estate has now been cut 8 times. so if they are contracted for 10 cuts, and the grass will stop growing in the next week or so, they may get away with a 20% cut in service.On this basis I assume that Golders will have a 20% reduction in their payment.But of course because our useless council did a best value revue, they will no doubt be happy to pay golders the full amount, rather than admit they foot-sucked up yet again.Perhaps councillors who give contracts to poor performing Sooth firms should ask where their votes will come from at the next election.I for one will vote for any person rather than the standing councillor.Rant, Rant,Rant Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mag Posted October 15, 2006 Report Share Posted October 15, 2006 At the very least the council should reduce their specification for grass cutting to the standard that they are actually going to accept, so that there is a level playing field for all tenderers. They should then enforce that standard. Local firms might have been able to outbid the incomers this year had they known that the council would accept a service much lower than that in the specification. Is there an ombudsman that could investigate this? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jeems Posted March 12, 2007 Report Share Posted March 12, 2007 Whats happening on da girse front dis year. Are we going to be overgrown again? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
petergear Posted March 12, 2007 Author Report Share Posted March 12, 2007 Well, Golder Landscapes are being allowed back to continue with the open-spaces contracts... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
petergear Posted March 12, 2007 Author Report Share Posted March 12, 2007 I would urge anyone who is unhappy with the state of maintenance of grassy areas or flower beds this year to please either email a councillor, or phone one. This way your complaint will not be "swept under the carpet" quite so easily. Here's a list of councillor details, current on 12th March 2007 (and a link to the contact-details page of the SIC website, if anyone needs a more current list after, say, election-time - http://www.shetland.gov.uk/coins/member/_list.htm ): Convener@sic.shetland.gov.uk Sandy Cluness, Lerwick North Central, 01595 695612 florence.grains@sic.shetland.gov.uk Sandsting, Aithsting & Weisdale, 01595 840243 brian.gregson@sic.shetland.gov.uk Unst & Fetlar, 01957 702350 Leonard.Groat@sic.shetland.gov.uk Lerwick North, 01595 692278 iris.hawkins@sic.shetland.gov.uk Scalloway, 01595 880579 barbara.cheyne@sic.shetland.gov.uk Delting East & Lunnasting, 01806 588272 eddie.knight@sic.shetland.gov.uk Lerwick Harbour & Bressay, 01595 693099 or 690796 Alistair.Inkster@sic.shetland.gov.uk Burra & Trondra, 01595 859697 Jim.H.Henry@sic.shetland.gov.uk Lerwick Sound, 01595 694621 Bill.Manson@sic.shetland.gov.uk Northmavine, Muckle Roe & Busta, 01806 522338 Gordon.Mitchell@sic.shetland.gov.uk Dunrossness, 01950 422338 John.Nicolson@sic.shetland.gov.uk Yell, 01595 880693 Drew.Ratter@sic.shetland.gov.uk Delting West, 01806 544295 frank.robertson@sic.shetland.gov.uk Walls, Sandness & Clousta, 01595 810283 josie.simpson@sic.shetland.gov.uk Whalsay & Skerries, 01806 566224 Tom.Stove@sic.shetland.gov.uk Cunningsburgh & Sandwick, 01950 431434 Willie.Tait@sic.shetland.gov.uk Sandwick, Bigton & Levenwick, 01950 422243 William Nicolson Stove, Lerwick Clickimin, 01595 694612 Leslie Angus, Lerwick South Central, 01595 692276 Cecil Eunson, Lerwick Breiwick, 01595 880115 Jim Irvine, Nesting, Whiteness, Girlsta & Gott, 01595 693777 Robert Geoffrey Feather, Lerwick Upper Sound, Gulberwick & Quarff, 01595 690896 Up-to-date list of councillors available here: http://www.shetland.gov.uk/coins/member/_list.htm Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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