British Isles Regional Administration

British Isles Regional Administration

London IWW Cleaners: Workplace Occupation Stoped by Police Threats

Posted Tor, 01/05/2012 - 6:15pm by IWW.org Editor

Cleaners at the Guildhall have been holding a sit in and stopping work since the 22nd of December because of mistreatment and intimidation. Early this morning [4th of January] management called the police, who came and intimidated and threatened the cleaners. The cleaners protested that they were holding a completely peaceful sit-in. They finally left due to police threats to drag them out physically.

The cleaners started organising in the summer, striking against unpaid wages. Since then they have been fighting for union recognition, better pay and an end to bad working conditions. After a new company, Sodexo, took over the cleaning contract, their union rep was suspended and they have been subject to all kinds of intimidation and abuse. The workers say there is one supervisor in particular who is abusive to them and there are currently various complaints by different cleaners against him, but Sodexho are refusing to do anything about his behaviour. Sodexho are trying to drive out the organised cleaners by continually changing their work areas, giving them the worst jobs, increasing their workload and, now, using intimidation and harassment.

IWW Cleaners Score Victory in Guildhall Dispute

Posted Man, 08/01/2011 - 12:42pm by IWW.org Editor

Cleaners at the Corporation of London, Guildhall have achieved a significant victory in a dispute with their sub-contractor Ocean Contract Cleaning London Ltd. Organised in the London IWW Cleaners and Allied Industries Branch (IU 640) this has been a major achievement for the workers and the IWW as a whole.

The Guildhall was built between 1411 and 1440 as a symbol of the English ruling elite – many of its labour policies remain stuck in its medieval past. The workers who maintain the splendour of the Guildhall are on a miserable £5.93 per hour, they receive no sick pay or pension. They are hired through Ocean Contract Cleaning. A company also with a long history worthy of a medieval establishment - in 2006 London Citizens uncovered that workers employed by Ocean at a London University were being commonly under-paid or not paid at all. Those cleaners recovered £50,000 in unpaid wages.

At the Guildhall the cleaners found themselves in a similar situation of being repeatedly underpaid in their wages going back months. Some waited two to three months to get wages they were owed. They even had the Public Holiday for the Royal Wedding deducted from their holiday leave. To add insult to injury the workers who are overwhelmingly migrants, from Latin America, Asia and Africa are subjected to management abuses now common place in the cleaning industry, petty bullying, and disciplinaries for next to nothing. If you are five minutes late you are sent home, if you are late again you are fired. IWW members have reported being threatened with dismissal for being two-minutes late.

Official Release from the IWW London Cleaners

Posted Tor, 07/21/2011 - 12:31pm by IWW.org Editor

The Guildhall, London according to its own website was designed to show the power of London's ruling elite. This tradition is continued today by annual speeches by the Chancellor of the Exchequer and the Governor of the Bank of England. The most recent event was a dinner in tribute to the new Ronald Regan statue attended by the Foreign Secretary, Condoleezza Rice and other dignitaries.

Though regularly hosting wealthy patrons of this ancient and prestigious venue, the cleaning staff are failing to be paid for the actual hours they work. Whilst their hourly rate are far below the London Living Wage.

In June of this year, 34 cleaners employed by Ocean Contract Cleaning London struck for 2 days because of many workers receiving underpaid wages over the last 3 months. On average 2 weeks of wages were missing.

The company promised to pay the overdue wages by the 20th of June and so the dispute was suspended.

However when the cleaners received their last pay packets, the company failed to keep their promises which resulted in the cleaners calling a new strike day for 15th July with a picket outside London Guildhall 5:30am to 10:00am.

The workers raised a collective grievance to review the salaries for the past 6 months but Ocean Contract Cleaning London are have ignored this and refuse to participate in any collective bargaining process.

The cleaners of Guildhall are on poverty pay rates of £5.95 per hour, whilst working in one of the most expensive cities in Europe and receiving no sick pay or pension. According to the London Living Wage Unit this is officially poverty pay and the London Living Wage has been set at £8.30.

There will be banners and support by fellow trade unionists including Industrial Workers of the World (IWW).

IWW Cleaners Strike Hits London

Posted Tor, 07/21/2011 - 12:22pm by IWW.org Editor

Early  morning contract cleaners hired by the City of London at Guildhall have staged a two day strike in protest at unpaid wages. The 34 cleaners only get the minimum wage, but even then cleaning contractor Ocean has underpaid many of them continuously over the last 3 months, despite asking them to work extra hours.

Their  patience ran out on Tuesday 14 and Wednesday 15 June, when those still unpaid refused to lift a finger until the company gave them assurances  they would be paid. Their other workmates agreed to stay put with them  in the reception area in solidarity for the duration of their two hour  shift. The situation is now on a knife edge, with  the company issuing some "amended" payslips, and promising that the rest  of the shortfall will be made good this week and in next month?s pay  packet.

The  workers, who hail from many different countries, are meanwhile presenting a collective grievance and have vowed to protest if the company fails to come up with the goods. They belong to the IWW's 640 (Cleaners and Allied Trades) branch. The last visible protest movements by City cleaners were at UBS's Liverpool Street offices in 2010 and the Willis Building in 2009.

Sent by: IWW 640 (Cleaners and Allied Trades branch)

Campaign for a Canteen - victory at Birmingham NHS Blood & Transplant centre

Posted Fre, 10/01/2010 - 11:58am by x344543

Workers at Birmingham's NHS Blood & Transplant centre in Edgbaston have just successfully organised to get a hot food canteen through a popular campaign.

Earlier this year office staff moved into former lab space left empty following cuts and closures. This influx highlighted and reminded people just how poor the existing catering on site was. Years ago there had been a full canteen serving cooked breakfast and the like, but the contract was operated by a local hospital and when that ended, no-one was willing to take it on, so the canteen was closed. Since then all that staff have had is over-priced vending machines which supply only salty, fatty and sugary junk food, and are frequently half empty. The dry sandwiches are universally hated. Considering the employer is the NHS, it seemed not a lot of thought had gone into how what employees eat effects our health, fitness, well-being, energy and concentration - especially those who work shifts.

This issue was something that absolutely everybody felt strongly about, so it was decided that instead of grumbling, which achieves nothing, a Campaign for a Canteen would be launched. The UNISON branch agreed to give the campaign its full backing. A petition was circulated and was signed by all, even visiting managers from other centres. An open meeting was also held so that ideas could be brainstormed to go into a written case.

Members of UNISON, Unite, IWW and also non-union members all came up with very strong arguments. The case was put together and presented to management along with pages of signatures, and a right earful from some of the most fired-up staff! Then, once we had made our case, many of us helped to keep the pressure up by sending the regional manager regular individual emails.

In the end management felt that our case was quite simply so strong and logical on all fronts that the only choice they had was to concede to our demand. Now we will be getting a full serving hatch which will give us access to hot fresh food and fruit and veg. This will be a good boost to morale and hopefully to people's health as well. Birmingham blood centre has lost a lot in the past few years and it's about time that we got something back! But this wasn't a gift - the truth is we wouldn't have got it if we hadn't organised.