DLR cleaners in sick pay protest

by New Worker correspondent

RMT cleaners on London’s Docklands Light Railway walked out on New Year’s Eve in a dispute over sick pay following earlier strike action in late November and early December. The cleaners work for the contractors Bidvest Noonan who have only been willing to discuss the limited possibility of one week’s full sick pay for certain serious or terminal diagnoses, which RMT has branded an insult to its members. 
 RMT General Secretary Eddie Dempsey said “Bidvest Noonan have behaved appallingly and are continuing to fail in making any acceptable offer on company sick pay. Cleaning staff on the DLR do a vital job keeping London’s transport network safe, clean, and presentable. 
 “Transport for London, which oversees outsourcing contracts, must bring these services back in house, and pay workers proper sick pay, if we are to avoid these kinds of disruptions in 2026”.

Tube strike solid!

by New Worker correspondent

RMT pickets get their message across in Brixton as London Underground workers shut down the network in a series of rolling strikes over pay this week. And at the TUC conference in Brighton RMT general secretary Eddie Dempsey called on Mayor Sadiq Khan to attend a summit with the union to find a resolution to the escalating dispute. At the Brighton Centre Dempsey told delegates from across the six million strong trade union movement, “I’ve got a message for the Mayor. Instead of going on social media, instead of the old tired clichés, telling trades unionists to get round the table, you’re the Mayor of London, you’re the Chair of TfL.
“Stop going on social media, invite us to the meeting, let’s have a discussion, because I want to know what is going on in London”. He warned of more strike action if there was no resolution but pointed out that members did not want to be in this position. “We take no pleasure in causing disruption but we make no apology for fighting for our members. So if the mayor has any sense, he will reach out to us”.
Moving the unanimously backed motion which means the TUC collectively calls on the summit to take place the RMT leader said “this Congress calls on the mayor, to urgently convene a summit to resolve all these disputes, improve industrial relations, end outsourcing and defend ticket offices”.

On The Streets

 

by New Worker correspondent

Industrial action over pay by traffic wardens in the London borough of Camden began at the end of July. Over a month  later the dispute continues with little sign of movement from bosses.
The wardens are employed by outsourcing company NSL, part of Marston Holdings, which made a £23.1 million profit in the year to May 2022 from its activities which include “ethical” debt collecting, whatever that is.
    The council makes about £40,000 a day from collecting parking fines so the industrial action is blowing a large hole in council finances. These parking fines have sometimes came from ambulances.
At present the wages are £12.70 an hour, with Unison seeking an increase to £15.90, a claim submitted last December. For this they have to work a 42.5 hour week in all weathers.
    While they were classified as key workers during the Covid pandemic, on the grounds they kept spaces clear for NHS workers to come into work, their services are not always met with happy smiles from grateful motorists.
    NSL say that the Unison claim is unrealistic, but the 25 per cent increase they are seeking is from a very low base.
    Branch secretary Liz Wheatley said, despite NSL’s claims, the present offer is effectively on a below inflation 7.5 per cent. NSL’s profits increased from £5.8 million in 2021 to £9.2 million last year. The boss’s salary went up from £258,000 to £412,000 which is a 60 per cent increase or to £221 an hour.
Camden Council have not responded to Unison demands to put pressure on NSL to make a settlement they can clearly afford. Unison also demands that they are brought back in house, a promise the Labour council made five years ago. The Council pays £30 hourly to NSL for the workers but the wardens get less than half that so the savings are obvious.
    In contrast to in-house employee who work 36 hours with 25 days holidays and sick pay NSL workers only 20 days holiday and paid for the first three days off sick. Pension provision is naturally much worse. Working on rest days, which for many is a necessity brings in only an extra £15.

London posties rally over pay

by New Worker correspondent

Thousands of posties rallied outside Parliament last week after walking out in their latest round of strikes in the run-up to Christmas. Members of the Communication Workers Union (CWU) said it was the biggest postal workers’ demonstration in living memory.
    Many wore pink CWU hi-vis vests, waving flags and holding placards that read “strike to win” and “save our Royal Mail”. The union says Royal Mail has imposed a 2 per cent increase on members without consultation and that it is refusing to treat its employees with respect.
    “They’re fighting for their jobs, their livelihood, and the service that they provide to the public,” says Dave Ward, the general secretary of the CWU.

    "Postal workers want to get on with serving the communities they belong to, delivering Christmas gifts and tackling the backlog from recent weeks,” Ward said. "But they know their value, and they will not meekly accept the casualisation of their jobs, the destruction of their conditions and the impoverishment of their families”.

    The CWU says more strikes will follow throughout December if Royal Mail management refuses to respond realistically to the union’s demands.

Charity Begins at Home…

by New Worker correspondent

But not for some working in the burgeoning charity sector like the staff at Shelter which was founded way back in December 1966. It emerged from the efforts of Bruce Kenrick, the Church of Scotland Minister who was doing missionary work in west London’s Notting Hill, then the stamping ground of notorious slum landlord Peter Rachman who had a violent way of dealing with those behind with the rent for one of his empire of grotty overcrowded properties. The Notting Hill Housing Trust, also founded by Kendrick in 1963, continues today as a major housing association owning thousands of properties.
    Shelter had the good fortune to be launched ten days after the BBC first broadcast Cathy Come Home by Jeremy Sandford and Ken Loach which exposed effects of homelessness in Britain.
    It soon became the leading body for advice with housing problems, and it campaigns for tenant rights spending much time lobbying local and central governments.
    It spends about 21 per cent of its revenue on fund raising, a figure which might raise a few eyebrows, but the charity world is a cut-throat business. Shelter faces brutal competition from children in need and fluffy polar bears seeking the nation’s conscience money. In comparison bedraggled homeless people and people sitting in mouldy rooms do not look very cute.
    Its latest Annual Report shows Shelter has an overall income of £59,699,000, of which £41 million came from donations and legacies, with £10 million from grants and contracts and £7 million from its shops. Its expenditure was £59,720,000 which suggests they are doing their job, spending rather than saving, It has assets worth £31 million which is not unreasonable giving that it needs a London base and a network of offices to do its job.
    The highest paid member of staff was the CEO, on £132,625. Shelter claim it is very ethical as its median salary was £28,104, a ratio against the highest salary of 4.72:1. However salaries for van drivers and assistants in their shops start at £19,000.
    Shelter had 1,335 employees, 118 on fund raising, with about 800 giving direct support, both in person and remotely. The CEO get £99.34 for each staff member, chicken-feed to bankers.
    Such is the institutional background of the current strike which starts on Monday until the Sunday before Christmas. The issue, unsurprisingly, is pay. In early November 85 per cent of the charity’s Unite branch voted to reject a three per cent pay offer, which Unite describes as a huge real terms pay cut.
    At the time of the vote, General Secretary Sharon Graham said that “Rather than sit on ever expanding reserves, Shelter should be paying its workers a fair pay rise”.
    She has a point, its last reported reserves were £14.5 million, comfortably above their target of £8.9 million.
    One of the strikers added that: “The work we undertake, particularly in frontline services, is so valuable and clients depend on our teams. But that shouldn’t mean they have to sacrifice a decent and dignified living because the work they are drawn to is in this sector. At the very base level, absolute bare minimum, those working for a housing charity shouldn't be experiencing housing insecurity as a result of being unable to pay rent.”
    Regional Officer Peter Storey warned that: “Strike action will inevitably cause substantial disruption to the services that Shelter provides. However, the organisation has created this dispute through the arrogant and high-handed manner in which it has treated its loyal workers.”
    This is not the first time Shelter workers have been involved in a pay battle in which strike action was at least threatened. In 2008 strike action took place while in both 2014 and 2018 industrial action was called off at the very last minute. In the latter case a four per cent deal composed of 2.25 per cent consolidated, plus 1.75 per cent unconsolidated paid at a flat rate, worth about £500 for each was secured after management offered a paltry one per cent. That dispute also saw 100 Shelter workers join Unite.
    This time round, in March, Shelter made a three per cent offer alongside a one-off £250 payment. Since then the one–off payment was increased to £1,500. This was still rejected, partly because it would actually make things worse for some workers. This came about because it would push the lowest paid over thresholds which would prevent them claiming working tax credits and Universal Credit to top up their low earnings.
    The wishy-washy left magazine Tribune recently interviewed three Shelter workers about the dispute. One Mark, who was formerly homeless himself, reported he relies on a foodbank twice a month, and his general quality of life has rapidly deteriorated in the past year.
    He also noted that when Shelter workers suggested flat rate consolidated increases to benefit the lowest paid, Management, responded that this would weaken the pay structure within Shelter, meaning the pay rise of those promoted wouldn’t be worth as much.
    Another staff member, Sarah, herself a twenty year veteran told Tribune that in the 2008 dispute: “They tried to impose contractual changes on us. Historically, there’s been disputes around Shelter actively going after our pay and pension contributions”, and “I’ve never had an inflation-based increase in pay in the twenty years I’ve been here.”
    The result of this pattern is a charity set up to tackle issues like housing insecurity now exacerbating housing insecurity among its own staff. “A lot of our staff are young private renters based in London,” says Sarah. “They’re caught up in the very housing emergency that they themselves are campaigning on.”
    She concluded by pointing out that Shelter workers urgently need a consolidated increase instead to get them through the coming winter months and beyond. Unless this is done condition will worsen after next April when it comes harder to claim means-tested benefits.
    Lucy, a London based Shelter worker told Tribune that: “It’s commonplace for staff to have no money left at the end of the month. I have colleagues who have fallen into arrears with bills, are eating less to cut down on the cost of food, and we hear constant accounts of staff suffering with stress and anxiety.”
    All three complained that Shelter spends too on external contracts and consultants and that in common with many charities management take advantage of dedicated workers “where committed and passionate workers are made to feel that they should put up with attacks on pay and conditions out of misguided notion of philanthropic instinct”.
    The anonymous Sarah added that management: “Know that most people that come to work for Shelter are very committed to Shelter’s cause. And I think they play on it. They expect charity workers just to put up low pay really and not complain.” Winning this dispute, conclude would “to send a message to charity sector workers that they can organise for union recognition and fair pay”.

A High End Strike

by New Worker correspondent

The present strike wave has reached as far as Knightsbridge in the west end of London where over 50 uniformed security guards and CCTV operators at Harrods’ will take part on a strike in protest against a seven per cent pay offer (half the present real rate of inflation of 14.2 per cent). The first strike  started on Friday and continued until Sunday 27th November. If there is no settlement further walk-outs will take place throughout the festive season. 
    Harrods is one of Britain’s finest state-owned shops, but the state in question is Qatar. Unite General Secretary Sharon Graham said “Harrods and its owners, the Qatar Investment Authority, can absolutely afford to pay these workers a rise that reflects soaring living costs. Harrods, like many Qatari state enterprises, is known the world over for luxury and extravagance, an impression maintained off the backs of workers”.
    A beneficiary of the government’s Covid furlough scheme to the tune of £6 million, Harrod’s recently doubled the pay of its managing director to £2.3 million and raked in profits of £51 million.
    Regional officer Balvinder Bir added that: “I’m sure that Harrods’ high-end customers and store owners will not be pleased that security and CCTV operations during the Christmas period will be compromised. This is entirely the fault of Harrods, which is swimming in cash but offering a pay cut dressed up as a rise. The company needs to table an offer our members can accept.” They also have some high-end shop-lifters.
    The New Worker does not condone what the anarchists call “proletarian shopping”, but if anyone feels like trying it on one of the above strike days, they should try to get a pocket-sized box of crystalised fruits for New Worker staff...

The fight-back in London

Bexley

In the south London borough of Bexley another group of binmen are making progress in their dispute over pay and working conditions.
    Talks between contractors Countrystyle Recycling and Unite are taking place at conciliation service ACAS, which has enabled Unite to call off a planned three week strike which was set to continue until Friday 19th August.
    Unite acting national officer Clare Keogh said: “Following extensive negotiations held at Acas, sufficient progress was made to allow Unite to suspend strike action.
    “It is hoped that during further in-depth negotiations the remaining outstanding issues can be resolved and a satisfactory resolution to the dispute reached.” But the union warned that if the resulting offer is unacceptable strike action will resume on Saturday 20th August.
    The 100 binmen involved have already been on strike in the middle of last month, Countrystyle Recycling had taken over the contract in October.
    Unite accuses Countrystyle of offering “a below-inflation pay deal” to scrap a long-standing “job and finish” clause in their contracts. Regional officer Tabusam Ahmed added: “Our members are rightly asking for a pay rise that keeps up with rocketing prices. In response, Countrystyle is trying to punish them by scrapping a long-standing agreement”.

London School of Hygiene &Tropical Medicine 

Another long standing dispute involving cleaners and other support staff is that at the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine led by the small street union, the Independent Workers of Great Britain (IWGB). The largely migrant workforce have recently won a long battle to become directly employed by the School, which is part of the University of London. However they face other battles because while the union represents the majority of support workers the School still refuses to recognise the union.
    The IWGB workers have long suffered under a two-tier system which means they have fewer rights and worse terms and conditions than directly employed colleagues. One example was that during the pandemic they were not entitled to proper sick pay.
    Last August the School finally agreed to bring the support workers in-house and end the discrimination, but this has yet to be fully implemented.
    However the devil is in the detail, as the IWGB branch soon found that Management goodwill was short-lived. They objected to actual workers, rather than IWGB officials attending meetings, and the approach to these regular meetings with the trade union was shocking. No agendas were prepared and the vital issue of (very low) pay was not to be discussed.
    In March the School’s Director said that he would only stick to the letter of TUPE regulations and would not bring workers onto even the lowest grade on the School’s pay scale of £11.30 an hour.
    IWGB demands that its members, who presently get £11.05 per hour, which is below the lowest grade on the university pay scale, are brought onto the School’s Pay Grade 3 (£14.50), the grade that similar staff are on. Instead the School is negotiating pay with Unison, which does not represent the workers and has ignored IWGB’s grading demands.
    In April a lively protest about these issues outside the School, at which a petition was handed in, was met by Management calling the police, who speedily decided there was no cause for action.
    Management soon took revenge. After the protest four workers were suspended by the subcontractor Samsic for taking part in the protest, with others later suspended for taking part in union meetings, IWGB thinks this may have been at the School’s orders and the union is now submitting a tribunal detriment and blacklisting claim against Samsic.
    The IWGB strongly refutes Management claims that the April protest was violent and intimidating. It also complains that it is denying the union details of their plans to bring them in-house.
    Strike action finally took place last month, with a promise of more to come. Before the strike workers faced repeated illegal attempts to intimidate workers including threats to cancel annual leave already booked.
    During July’s strike Samsic made use of agency workers to cover the strikers’ shift. This, IWGB say “is a criminal offence, under Regulation 7 of the Conduct of Employment Agencies and Employment Business Regulations 2003”. Two IWGB officials entered the foyer of the building to report this to the security manager and to flag that this was a serious criminal offence and should be stopped immediately. The security manager called the police.
    LSHTM management claims, without evidence that the IWGB has “verbally abused and threatened at work” the reception staff. However 126 scientists, including past and present members of staff, support the action and accuse Management of tarnishing the reputation of the School. They demand that management meet “essential workers’ demands of fair treatment and pay” and “the immediate annulation of disciplinary sanctions faced by some workers engaged in union activities and campaigns.”
    One of those supporting the workers is Kings College London lecturer in global health and School graduate, Sabah Boufkhed, who says: “Our academic and global health community has taken a stand with less privileged colleagues who have organised themselves to address their poor labour conditions. We know from the research we do that these conditions are a major determinant of health. I hope that LSHTM’s senior management will immediately address the situation and make a step towards addressing causes of health and social inequities within their own premises.”

Battersea

South of the river, in Battersea, another union recognition battle is being fought by another small street union. This is at the Latchmere Leisure Centre in Battersea, where the United Voices of Workers (UVW) have applied to the Central Arbitration Committee for statutory recognition.
    Here the largely Bolivian cleaners, are demanding to be paid the London Living Wage instead of what they get which is just a few pennies above the lower Minimum Living Wage. They also complain that they currently only get the legal minimum statutory sick pay and they are demanding a full sick pay scheme.
    Juan Jiménez Yanez, one of the cleaners and UVW members, said: “We, the workers of Latchmere Leisure Centre, are almost on the minimum wage and we are asking for a pay rise. We want the London Living Wage (LLW) and we ask for the support of all our fellow workers to support us in our cause. Keep up the fight comrades!”
The centre is owned by Wandsworth Council, who pay £3.7 million a year to Places for People Leisure Management (PPLM), to run its leisure centres on their behalf. The lifetime cost of the contract with PPLM is £22 million

    PPLM’s parent company, Places for People (PfP) is actually one of the UK’s largest private housing associations with more than £4.9 billion in assets and is landlord over 220,000 owned or managed homes in addition to managing 108 leisure facilities across the country.
    PfP made a pre-tax profit of nearly £80 million last year with £700 million in reserve, yet only pays cleaners at Latchmere five pence more than the £9.50 minimum wage.
    Labour won the local elections in Wandsworth this year ending years of Tory rule in the borough. And Simon Hogg, the leader of Wandsworth’s new Labour Council, says: “there is no moral justification for paying people less than the LWW, especially at a time when household bills are going through the roof and families are struggling. Any company that tenders for a council contract will need to guarantee that their workforce is paid the LLW as a minimum.”
    In September 2023 the leisure centre management contract will be renewed, but UVW point out that with the present high inflation this does not help the present situation and is demanding that the UVW to be recognised as the cleaners’ union.
    It is about time that all of Britain’s unions unite and force Labour councils and other public bodies to bring essential workers in-house and cut out parasitical middlemen who do nothing except collect dividends.

West End

On Tuesday some of Britain’s less essential workers start balloting for strike action. They work for Grosvenor Casinos in London. Despite helping to redistribute money from people with more money than sense to their bosses they are being offered a below inflation pay cut.
    Their union, Unite, points out that Grosvenor’s owner, the Rank Group, made a £40 million profit last year but is only offering to increase the wages of its lowest paid staff to the bare London Living Wage of £11.20 an hour. At the same time staff paid more than that are only being offered a 4.3 per cent increase when the real inflation rate (RPI) is 11.8 per cent.
    The rates of pay are little compensation given that much of the work involves unsociable hours and late night working.
    Unite national officer Dave Turnbull said: “If workers vote for strike action it will inevitably cause huge disruption across the company’s operations but this dispute is entirely of Grosvenor Casinos own making. Even at this late stage strike action can still be averted if Grosvenor Casinos returns to the negotiating table and makes a realistic pay offer to our members”. The New Worker is not giving odds on the ballot result.

RMT shuts down Tube

by New Worker correspondent

Some 4,000 striking station and revenue control staff shut down London Underground on Monday in a show of strength to oppose pension attacks and job cuts.
    Trains remained in depots across the network as picket lines spread across the combine despite heavy rain across the capital.
    600 station staff jobs will be lost if TfL (Transport for London) plans go through and RMT members face huge detrimental changes to their pensions and working conditions.
    RMT general secretary Mick Lynch said: "I congratulate our station grade and revenue control staff members on London Underground for taking strike action in defence of their pensions and jobs.
    "The effectiveness and industrial power of these members cannot be underestimated. TfL, London Underground Limited (LUL) and the Mayor of London have had ample opportunity to negotiate with the union properly to avert this strike action today.
    "Their intransigence and stubbornness have left RMT members no choice but to act decisively. We will not rest until we have a just settlement to this dispute and we urge the Mayor to stand up to the Tory government who are cutting funding to TfL rather than try to pick a fight with tube workers."

London’s transport

NSSN support on the picket line

by New Worker correspondent

One area where the class struggle will be fought out is on the railways up and down the country, and perhaps most sharply, below ground in London. Rail unions have united in condemnation of the actions of the Mayor of London and Transport for London (TfL), which they say will lead to a loss of 600 Underground station jobs.
   On the London Underground (LU) workers have already taken strike action against detrimental changes to the Night Tube driver grade.
Transport for London (TfL) wants to rip up existing agreements and force drivers to do more Night Tube shifts, which RMT points out will ruin drivers’ work–life balance.
   The action caused major disruption on one of the busiest shopping weekends of the year. Whilst workers on only five tube lines took action, delays hit other lines as well, and members of the other train drivers’ union, ASLEF, refused to cross the picket line despite their union leaders accepting TfL’s proposals. In addition, some other RMT members not directly affected by the plans also struck in solidarity.
   The plans to cut 600 station staff are based on the assumption that people all use contactless tickets, which is nonsense given the large number of visitors needing to be told how to get from Hamleys to Harrods.
   Meanwhile, there’s more trouble at the Woolwich ferry. There has been a ferry crossing at Woolwich on the lower Thames since the 14th Century, but it sometimes seems as though industrial disputes have been going on for almost as long.
   In 2019, workers went on strike seeking a pay rise and improved safety after the new operators cut staff numbers and set new shift patterns after acquiring new ships. The following year they won good deal, securing 100 per cent furlough pay from then private operator Briggs Marine Contractors.
   Now TfL run the service things have got worse rather than better. Just before Christmas seven workers, including two Unite reps, were suspended without reason.
   Despite having recently acquired new ships they were laid up over the festive season. This postponed a planned strike over pay.
   Unite’s General Secretary, Sharon Graham, demanded: “The suspension of our seven members, including two of our reps, needs to be rescinded immediately. We won’t allow TfL management to get away with ‘declaring war’ on Unite and its members. The full weight of the union will be mobilised in support of them,” accusing TfL of “a huge and unprovoked escalation.”
   Unite regional officer Onay Kasab deplored the fact that: “TfL continues to spend excessive sums on agency staff, while claiming it is in financial trouble – this is money that could go towards paying our 58 members a decent wage as the RPI rate of inflation soars to 7.1 per cent.”

Support London bus drivers!

Picket of Park Royal garage

 by New Worker correspondent

London bus drivers took industrial action following the break-down of talks between RATP and Unite the union last week. Drivers working for RATP’s three subsidiary companies, London United, London Sovereign and Quality Line, went on strike over pay and conditions. RATP, a French state-owned transport company, is trying to impose new contracts that would cut drivers’ wages by some £1,500 a year.
    The fresh strike action follows a number of strikes held in February in protest at RATP’s “modernising” proposals. In a divide and rule approach, RATP is attempting to treat workers in each subsidiary differently and play one set of workers off against the other.
    Directors and shareholders line their own pockets while expecting their workers to take pay cuts lying down. Picket placards point out that the company’s highest paid director got £363,000 last year (an increase of £167,000 from the previous year), and £1,800,000 in dividends were paid out to shareholders.
    Support for the strike is solid in London United’s depots. With only nine out of 200 buses in operation, they are causing significant disruption. They’re also receiving lots of support from the community and notably from Labour’s Shadow Transport Secretary Jim McMahon.
    Unite regional officer Michelle Braveboy said: “Bus drivers at RATP are resolved that attacks on their pay and conditions will be abandoned and that they will secure a meaningful pay rise.
     “It is simply disgraceful that RATP is using the cover of Covid-19 to try to force through these cuts.
     “London’s bus drivers have kept the city moving through successive lockdowns but have also suffered a terrible penalty, through very high numbers of Covid deaths, as a result of their dedication and sacrifice.
     “This strike action is being taken as a last resort. This dispute is a direct result of RATP failing to treat its workers reasonably and fairly.
     “RATP is attempting to boost its profits by cutting workers’ pay, either directly or in real terms. Further strike action can still be avoided and Unite is prepared to enter into negotiations to resolve this dispute at any time”.

 

London care workers keep up the fight

 by New Worker correspondent

Care workers and cleaners at the Sage Nursing Home in Golders Green North London walked out in a second wave of strike action from the 4th to 8th February last week.The key workers, who previously went on a three-day strike back in January, are demanding a living wage of £12 per hour, trade union recognition and full pay sick pay and annual leave in line with NHS rates.
    The workers taking action are members of United Voices of the World (UVW), a street union that represents low-paid, predominantly migrant workers in Britain. They’re now also one step closer to trade union recognition with the Central Arbitration Committee (CAC) ruling in favour of the workers’ proposed bargaining unit.
     The latest round of strike action came just three weeks after the first, which saw workers host a virtual picket, which was supported by over 400 attendees consisting of union members, officials, care workers and Members of Parliament, all of whom expressed support for the workers’ demands and which was followed up by a lively physical picket outside the care home that same weekend.
    UVW officials have stated the dispute is not only about pay and terms and conditions, but also about the refusal of Sage’s trustees to willingly recognise the union and to adequately deal with grievances relating to discrimination, victimisation and health and safety concerns. The workers’ recent victory at the Central Arbitration Committee (CAC), the government body which regulates and rules on applications for trade union recognition, saw the CAC rule in favour of the workers’ proposed bargaining unit. Meaning the workers are one step closer to achieving recognition.
    The CAC ruling, coupled with the promise of further strike action, has seen Sage’s trustees begin to buckle, agreeing for the first time to attend a meeting with the workers to hear the unaddressed grievances.
    Molly de Dios Fisher, a UVW organiser, said: “Despite the arrogant tone in their letter offering a meeting to hear the workers’ concerns, we are hopeful Sage’s trustees will see sense and start fixing the problems at the home. The majority of care workers in the private sector earn below the real living wage, and London, along with the North of England, is the worst place for underpayment. So all eyes are on this dispute. Care workers and their unions know that a win for the Sage Nursing Home workers could be the catalyst needed for a sea change across the sector”.

Uncharitable Charity

By New Worker correspondent

Homeless charity St Mungo’s, which has many branches in London as well as Basildon, Brighton and Bristol, is facing a strike by hundreds of staff opposing a “race to the bottom”. A three-day strike took place on Monday to Wednesday of this week.

Unite the Union warned its CEO Howard Sinclair to “stop blaming staff for your leadership mistakes” as workers began their strike.

The struggle, which has been going on over a year a variety of issues, includes a punitive sickness policy and changes it made to the junior staffing cap, which workers fear opens the door to a cheaper workforce on worse pay and terms and conditions. Safety would also be undermined.

Unite has assured clients that: “Your safety is our priority, which is why we feel so strongly about standing up to defend the services we deliver to you.”

In response to the CEO’s calls for the strike to be suspended because of the Coronavirus outbreak, Unite said that it will follow government guidance and not be bullied by Sinclair.

Unite’s regional officer, Tabusam Ahmed, said: “St Mungo's workers have tried their utmost to arrive at a reasonable settlement with their employer and have been rejected at every turn.

“For our members the safety of their clients is their number one priority and they will take strike action with very heavy hearts, but believe it is the only way to defend the future of St Mungo’s services.

 “We have warned that the attacks on jobs, the reinstatement of ‘race to the bottom’ conditions and discriminatory disciplinary procedures are putting a severe strain on staff and the services they deliver to homeless people.

“We appeal to Mr Sinclair and the board to rethink their approach, as the charity cannot function as it should do and serve those who need it, while relationships between staff and employers are stretched to breaking point.”

Unite said it will follow the ‘severe weather emergency protocol’ (SWEP) and suspend strike action should it become necessary.

A necessarily anonymous St Mungo’s worker who has worked in the sector for many years said that helping the homeless is a labour of love. “You may have a client who has a history of severe mental health issues who needs to be in a psychiatric hospital but has gone missing so we have to go out and find him. Or a woman who is in a domestic violence situation who needs to be brought to safety immediately.”

He must respond to such crises whilst also doing daily outreach shifts, which involve making contact with rough sleepers who’ve been referred to the charity by members of the public. He also noted that at St Mungo’s staff have to deal with 40 or more individuals whilst in other charities the norm is half that. He points out that: “When you work with someone who’s finally secured accommodation and they’re crying they’re so happy; or when a client beats their addiction – it really makes the job worth it.”

He accused St Mungo’s of presiding over a regime that has some of the highest rates of people off sick in the sector. It has an onerous sick policy that means once staff reach what’s called a “level 3” sickness absence they may be dismissed.

The union accused the charity of tearing up a negotiated agreement meant to protect pay, terms and conditions. A 2013 agreement to limit the ratio of junior staff to more senior staff, to ensure that services are provided by experienced workers, has been abandoned.

Last month St Mungo’s rejected a proposal made for one duty worker per three project workers, despite the tiny extra cost.

As a result the junior staff are on lower pay, and these inexperienced younger workers informally take on the work of senior staff in which they are totally out of their element. It is “blindingly obvious that this is a cost-cutting measure meant to be a race-to-the-bottom for all of us”

The worker points out that it appears that all St Mungo’s “care about is their brand and not the actual service and staff. They don’t listen to us. They spend tens of thousands of pounds on PR, have an executive team earning £700,000 between them, then they try to cut costs everywhere else. They have taken a very heavy-handed anti-union approach amid this dispute, banning union meetings at work. And then on top of everything they punish us for being sick.”

Last Sunday Unite welcomed that fact that St Mungo’s changed its sickness policy in light of coronavirus, but it said must go further and scrap the onerous requirement of making workers call two people when off sick.

St Mungo’s denies it has been cutting pay, changing terms and conditions or making people redundant, and said they had “done everything possible” to stop the strike and had made reasonable compromises. They claim that inexperienced staff have only be used on very rare occasions.

• St Mungo's workers prepare for strike

Cleaners Fight Back

By New Worker correspondent

Transport union RMT is stepping up its campaign to secure justice for cleaners working on London Underground (LU). The cleaners are employed by private contractors ABM, the New York-based facilities manager that has a turnover of $6.4 billion from its 140,000 employees. The cleaners have been fighting for parity with directly employed LU workers on a number of fronts including pensions, sick pay and travel. RMT argues that ABM cleaners are being discriminated against when compared with their colleagues. In particular it deplores the inaction of the Labour Mayor of London on the issue.

Speaking at the launch of a strike ballot that opened on Monday, RMT General Secretary Mick Cash said: “It is a disgrace that over two thousand staff who clean London Underground’s trains and stations are treated as second-class citizens in their own workplace. We intend to right that wrong. This large group of staff, employed by the contractors ABM, clean up the human waste, vomit and other detritus and are instrumental in keeping London moving. They do some of the dirtiest jobs round the clock right across the tube network, and without their rapid response and continuing efforts services would be seriously compromised. They should not be subject to this outrageous workplace discrimination. It’s about time Sadiq Khan and LU called their contractors to account. We are calling on Londoners to back their tube cleaners’ fight for justice and as the ballot gets underway we remain available for serious and genuine talks.”

When the five year contract was awarded in 2017 Transport for London piously said it would ensure that cleaners would receive the London Living Wage and would end sub-contracting. An ABM advertisement for one of these jobs seen on the same day as the ballot opened offered precisely that. A full-time night-shift 10pm–5:30am was at the London Living Wage of £10.55 per hour but made no mention of being pensionable.

Also in London, an almost identical strike is underway at St Mary’s Hospital, part of the Imperial College NHS Trust in Paddington, where Alexander Fleming discovered the properties of penicillin; this time organised by the non-TUC union United Voices of the World (UVW). Two hundred cleaners, porters and caterers held the first of a series of strikes on Monday, Tuesday and Thursday. The outsourced workers are demanding better pay and working conditions from Sodexo, a French multinational that has many such contracts in Britain.

 The workers are paid an hourly rate of £8.21 and even less for those under 25-years-old. This is up to £10,000 less per year than staff of equivalent grade under the NHS Agenda for Change, so the even London Living Wage is a distant dream. Obviously the bosses cannot afford to pay it because profits slumped nine per cent to $745.8 million last year. Sodexo claims it has already agreed to pay the London living wage from April and remained open to “negotiation and arbitration”.

Because workers only have the bare minimum Statutory Sick Pay they have to work on wards when ill, sometimes with flu, because they cannot afford to take time off when sick. They are campaigning for better changing facilities as well as for an end to discrimination that bans outsourced staff using NHS canteens and staff-rooms. As an additional insult, workers are forced to change in mice-ridden, dimly lit and mixed-gender changing rooms located in the hospital’s basement. One striking cleaner said: “I work 55 hours a week just to cover my rent. St Mary’s is my home, I spend more time here than in my house. Yet I am treated like a dog and made to feel like dirt.”

Petros Elia, an organiser for the UVW street union, says: “Sodexo’s contract with Imperial allowed its former CEO, Michel Landel, to enjoy obscene executive pay totalling nearly a million pounds a year and annual bonuses of up to 200 per cent of his salary. Sodexo and St Mary’s can afford to pay our workers in line with NHS rates and we urge them to do so, otherwise the strikes will continue indefinitely.”

At the same time, UVW are fighting similar battles across London. At Hyde Park, Kensington Gardens and St James’s Park, the Royal Parks in central London, park attendants are going on strike at Halloween. Cleaners at the Channel 4 offices on Gray’s Inn Road will be also on strike.

In 2016, the now 3,000-strong union organised the largest cleaners strike in UK history and became the first trade union to force a UK university [the London School of Economics (LSE)] to bring the entirety of its outsourced cleaners in-house. It also organised one of the longest strikes in the history of the City of London, lasting 61 consecutive days. UVW also represents workers in the legal sector, charity sector, cultural sector, architectural sector and even sex workers. Let us hope the results in 2019 are the same as in 2016.