British Isles Regional Administration

British Isles Regional Administration

IWW Victory at Exchange Tower

Posted Sun, 03/11/2012 - 12:37pm by IWW.org Editor

By Chris Ford, Industrial Workers of the World, London Regional Secretary - March 5, 1990.

Today after a long and high profile campaign the IWW secured a victory for our cleaner members mployed at Exchange Tower who will now be paid the London Living Wage of £8.30 per hour. For ten years many members have been earning poverty wages on the minimum wage.

The arrival of the IWW immediately set about changing this situation launching a campaign for the London Living Wage, this saw widespread publicity, a motion in Parliament, our members stood firm in the face of the intimidation of the management company Cashmens who also managed Heron Tower.

On March 8th IWW in Frankfurt and industrial unionists in Warsaw and Tokyo were planning solidarity demonstrations at the offices of the MGPA owners of Exchange Tower.

But the employers have conceded to the just demands of the workers.

Some of the traditional unions at Canary Wharf have abandoned cleaners - full-time officials declared 'you need to keep your head down in a recession'.

The IWW has continued to fight, organising the unorganised, the abandoned and the betrayed. At Reuters nearby IWW is engaged in another campaign for the London Living Wage and for the removal of a gang of a feral managers intimidating cleaners.

The gains at Exchange Tower send a clear message that solidarity wins justice in the workplace! Thank you to all our members and supporters.

London IWW Cleaners: Workplace Occupation Stoped by Police Threats

Posted Thu, 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 Mon, 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 Thu, 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 Thu, 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)