Cash handouts given to street cleaners

Ten street cleaners pose for a photo at an award ceremony at the Civic Center square in Futian CBD, Shenzhen, yesterday. They were among the city’s 32 excellent street cleaners who received 1,000-yuan (US$155) cash each for their hard work from the Beautiful Shenzhen Foundation and Shenzhen Municipal Federation of Trade Unions yesterday. Sun Yuchen

The Beautiful Shenzhen Foundation and Shenzhen Municipal Federation of Trade Unions yesterday dished out 1,000 yuan (US$155) to 32 excellent street cleaners each to say “thanks” for their hard work.

Ten representatives of the 32 street cleaners received the cash handouts from government offi cials led by Liu Qingsheng, executive vice mayor of Shenzhen, at a ceremony yesterday morning at the Civic Center square in Futian District.

The 32 street cleaners are mainly responsible for cleaning up Futian CBD, including the areas around the Civic Center, Shenzhen Book City CBD store and Shenzhen Children’s Palace.

They have served on average for over 10 years. Their morning shift starts at as early as 4 a.m. and the night shift ends at 11 p.m.

In addition, the foundation and the trade union federation each donated 500,000 yuan to help nearly 100 street cleaners in dire poverty, who will each receive 10,000 yuan in aid.

Wang Guofang, who has worked as a street cleaner in the city for more than 20 years, expressed appreciation for the subsidy help from the society.

Over many years, Wang had borrowed hundreds of thousands of yuan from relatives and friends in order to seek medical treatment for her husband with hepatic ascites, who eventually died in June last year.

Local companies also moved to show respect and deliver gift packages for street cleaners in appreciation of their efforts to keep the city clean, especially during the approaching Chinese New Year.

Starbucks Shenzhen has announced it will give out a total of 4,000 drinks and 1,500 breakfasts to front-line street cleaners in Luohu, Futian, Nanshan and Bao’an districts during the festival.

C-MER (Shenzhen) Dennis Lam Eye Hospital will offer free eye checkups for street cleaners before the holiday.

On Tuesday, the trade union federation announced its annual event package full of performances and activities to provide a fun-fi lled Spring Festival holiday for workers who will stay in Shenzhen, according to Shenzhen Special Zone Daily.

The federation launched the annual event in 1996 in a bid to help relieve the homesickness of migrant workers in Shenzhen.

According to statistics, the city’s trade unions at all levels are expected to spend more than 400 million yuan during this year’s Spring Festival holiday on the activities, most of which will be held online, and serve over 3 million workers.

Meanwhile, the federation has recently raised a special fund of more than 53 million yuan to offer financial aid and holiday gifts to needy workers and front-line workers in pandemic prevention and control, which has benefi ted more than 150,000 workers.

In line with the overall arrangements of the federation, trade unions at all levels will also commit more than 4.5 million yuan to fi nancial aid for over 20,000 needy workers and front-line workers.