Submitted on Thu, 07/21/2011 - 1:31pm
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).
Submitted on Thu, 07/21/2011 - 1:22pm
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)
Submitted on Fri, 10/01/2010 - 12:58pm
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.
Submitted on Wed, 07/22/2009 - 12:23am
Disclaimer: This is not an IWW action; it is being posted in solidarity.
Workers staging a sit-in at the soon-to-close Vestas wind turbine plant on the Isle of Wight are being starved out by police.
The police, many inside the factory and dressed in riot gear, have denied food to the workers who took over the factory offices last night, to protest about the closure of their factory. The police, operating with highly questionable legal authority, have surrounded the offices, preventing supporters from joining the sit-in, and preventing food from being brought to the protestors.
Around 20 workers at the Vestas Plant in Newport, on the Isle of Wight, occupied the top floor of offices in their factory to protest against its closure which will result in over 500 job losses.
Submitted on Fri, 09/05/2008 - 12:48pm
Please circulate widely.
On the 21st August Chris Lockwood, union organiser and member of the Industrial Workers of the World was fired from his bar job at the Showroom Cinema in Sheffield (UK). This has been part of a long campaign by management of picking off and isolating workers who have voiced objections to recent changes that have worsened the conditions of all who work there.
The Showroom cinema is a registered charity and claims to be an "investor in people", yet has consistently attacked workers pay and conditions with the sole aim of greater profits. We believe that every worker (no matter what the industry) is entitled to respect and should be organised to defend themselves in the work place. Chris’ firing represents a direct and illegal attack against union organising.