In Dzirciems, in an apartment house at Usmas Street 9, in one of the stairwells, climbing up the stairs, on almost every floor, you can see dust and leaves that have not been swept away, Latvian Radio reported.
Residents of the house are outraged by the dirt in the stairwell. They told Latvian Radio: "You know, I'm going to tell you it's awful. First, it's full of some sand that hasn't been collected at all. Then some kind of guests come to us - the homeless, who are taking our door mats."
One of these residents said they had not seen a janitor for five years despite the fact that payments for janitorial services have continued to be collected from them.
Residents of the house said that they had approached the company "Rīgas namu pārvaldnieks" several times, but without success. The inhabitants have got sick of the dirt, so they have decided to sweep it into small piles to show how much has accumulted.
Uncleaned stairwells are also reported from other places. For example, at Dagmāras Street 4, a resident said that the housekeeper was no longer working due to the lack of a Covid-19 certificate. He is being replaced by another worker, but the stairwells have not been cleaned for weeks. In turn, a woman from the apartment house in Dzirciems noted that janitors keep her stairwell in order, but it could be done more diligently.
"In the time we live in, the stairwells need to be washed more often. In addition, it is necessary to do so with disinfectants,” the unnamed woman living in Dzirciems said.
The company "Rīgas namu pārvaldnieks" said it is aware of the problem with the workforce, indicating that more than 40 employees, half of whom are janitors, have had to be suspended due to the lack of a Covid-19 certificate. More employees could be fired in the near future because some of the company's representatives are currently on incapacity for work or are forced to take leave because they do not have a Covid-19 certificate. The company acknowledged that although there are now at least 1,000 janitors, more than 100 of these workers are currently lacking.
The company's representative Krists Leiškalns said: “There was a shortage of employees before, during and after the Covid time. Therefore, current trends do not indicate that it will be easy for us to fill all staff vacancies. Do I predict that this will be resolved in the near future? No." He said the company was doing all it could to organize cleaning work across the capital.
