STREET CLEANERS may strike over claims their workload has tripled.

Kier Street Services staff will meet with union officials to discuss possible walkout in protest at staff cuts and alleged payroll problems.

A union source, who did not want to be named for fear of repercussions, said morale is low among the workforce and the quality of the service will suffer.

He said: “Kier have cut down all the agency staff from the workforce. They used to have 54 agency staff working in the afternoon but now there's nobody."

He explained that the workload of the remaining 140 full time staff has tripled, with as many as 70 streets each to clean, compared to 20 before the changes.

"All our staff have been complaining about the workload but Kier have said either get it done or get sacked," the source added.

"We've also been complaining that each month we don't get proper wages - some of the staff are between £300 and £1,000 short."

The shortfall means some staff are falling behind on mortgage payments, he said, and are facing having their homes repossessed as a result.

He added that payslips often arrive as much as two weeks late, meaning staff cannot check where there is a shortfall.

"The other thing is that the council have entered into this new environmental crime initiative," he said.

"We've got this extra money but who's going to do the work? We've got that to do, plus our own work and staff are getting stressed out.

“They've been threatened with losing their jobs and I regard this as boiling point."

He also confirmed that staff have been diverted away from residential streets and into main roads, reflecting continued complaints from residents.

And Darren O'Grady, of the Waltham Forest Trades Council (WFTC), also voiced concerns about the impact on the borough’s streets.

"The terms of the contract have been whittled down and the service has certainly declined as there are fewer street sweepers," he said.

Kier did not deny that staff had been cut but said it provides a ‘comprehensive’ service.

The company added that staff had not been paid late but some had failed to follow correct timesheet procedure.

A spokeswoman said: “Improved response times to fly-tipping and other envirocrime is being achieved through an improved utilisation of resources.”