Cleaners on £24,000 a year, private school ballot to strike – South London News

Cleaners at £24,000-a-year private girls’ school prepare to vote strike on changes to the contract.

Voting comes after the cleaners from James Allen’s Girls School of East Dulwich Grove, have been informed by their contractor, DB Services, of changes to the terms and conditions of their contract without consultation.

Cleaner Gloria Chalaco, 48, from East Dulwich, said: “They didn’t consult us at all – they just started implementing cuts and changes, ignoring our voices.

“We can’t just find another job to make up for such a significant loss of income, especially with weeks off scattered throughout the year. Our bills and rent don’t stop.”

Ms Chalaco said workers are also being denied sick pay.

She said: “When we get sick, we either work when we are sick or we lose our pay.

“They don’t respect us cleaners as people with the same needs and rights as everyone else, yet we make sure the environment is healthy and safe for students.”

Migrant workers – members of United Voices of the World (UVW) union. – resorted to “work under protest” after being informed last month that changes to their working hours and contracts would soon come into effect.

The cleaners are not asking for contract changes or reductions in hours and sick pay to keep their wages at £13.15 an hour and rise in line with the London Living Wage every year.

The cleaners’ strike ballot opens on 24 June and closes on 5 July 2024.

Guido Fabián Guallichico, 56, from Blackheath, has been cleaning at the private school for 12 years.

He said: “We are demanding our rights as workers because cleaners are treated as if we have no rights, as if we don’t matter.

“But we are workers like everyone else and we want our rights to be respected. We were forced to take this decision to vote for a strike to be heard.”

Savings from the proposed cuts amount to £20,000 a year for the Oxbridge catering school, where a sizeable proportion of staff earn between £60,000 and £90,000 a year, according to the UVW.

According to the UVW, DB Services responded to the cleaners’ demands by saying sick pay was “economically unfeasible”.

The cleaning contractors have also told the union that future pay rises in line with the London Living Wage are a commitment the JAG must make.

So far, the UVW said JAGS has “refused to negotiate”.

The decision to vote on strike comes days after a strike by JAGS teachers was called off by the National Education Union.

Around 50 teachers and some support staff staged strikes on 22 May, 5 and 6 June over pay and changes to pension schemes.

Petros Elia, UVW general secretary said: “The JAGs should be ashamed of themselves.

“JAGS students secure places at prestigious universities such as Oxbridge, setting them up for life, but our cleaners have to fight for basic guarantees such as the London Living Wage and sick pay.”

JAGS and DB Services have been contacted for comment.

Pictured above: James Allen’s School for Girls in East Dulwich Grove (Image: Google Street View)

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