The Houses of Parliament cleaners made history by staging their
first walk-out on the morning of 20th July. At 10 am the strikers
assembled outside St. Stephens’ entrance together with some MPs,
parliamentary staff and the media to publicise their demands. The
strikers were chanting slogans like “Low Pay, No Way” while some of
them were brandishing placards and mops. Faced with appalling working
conditions and the disrespectful attitude of the contractors (the
direct employers of the cleaners) and their main customers
(Parliamentary Authorities) the workers have decided to hold a 24 hour
strike. Before holding strike action the cleaners, organised by the
Transport&General Workers Union (T&GWU), launched a cleaners’
manifesto.
The words of a young T&GWU shop steward at the picket line describe the situation quite well:”We
used to be on 4.5 pounds an hour and since last month we have received
5 pounds an hour. We just have 12 days holiday a year, no sick pay and
no pension. This is a disgrace in the house of democracy. We are
working 16 hours a day sometimes. When you are on a five pounds an hour
and you live in Central London. there is no way you can sustain
yourself just working 40h a week. All the cleaners are forced to work
overtime just to survive.” The same shop steward goes on to say how their “changing
premises are disgusting. We have no proper facilities to change. We
have rats passing by, filth everywhere, pipes on top of our heads…
all of that inside the most beautiful building in the city.”
At the same time that workers were voting to go on strike over pay,
Geoff Hoon, new leader of the House, announced a 20% pay rise for MPs
who chair committees. Their £13,107 increase is more than the cleaners
earn in a year. The contempt of the right wing clique installed in the
government to the workers has no limit. The demands of the workers are
not in any way unreasonable. Their manifesto asks for 28 days holiday,
company sick pay, £6.70 per hour and a company pension. However, it
looks too much for the Parliamentary Authorities who have already taken
a “hands off” approach. “This dispute is between the contractors and
their staff”, said a spokesperson of the Parliamentary Authorities (The Guardian,
July 14, 2005). It was them in the first place who allowed Mitie
Cleaning, Emprise Services and their miserable working conditions in.
Once more we come across the nonsense of capitalism. While these 140
cleaners just have 12 days holiday, MPs, who are on £59,095 a year, are
about to have a 16 week long holiday.
In spite of their difficult situation and belonging to one of the
most vulnerable layers of the working class – most of them are migrant
workers – they are determined to fight.
As one of the striker puts it:”This is just the beginning. We
want to link up all the cleaners, get them organised and rise our
voice. We want to do something about it. These people [Parliamentary
Authorities] are going to go on holidays and forget about us, but we
are not going to let them. Everywhere they’ll go we will chase them up
and if necessary we’ll go to the airports to remind them they cannot
forget about the workers.”
As Geoff Hoon and the pay rises he is giving to his friends show,
there is no material reason why the strikers should not get their
demands accepted.
This walk out has been a success for the cleaners, just three scabs
out of 140 workers dared to cross the picket line. Now it is time for
T&GWU to keep the pressure on and not only get the demands but to
match them with the ones of directly employed by Parliament. That is £8
an hour and 30 days holiday on top of the sick pay and pension.
