A Southwark Council cleaner who could not work due to issues with her spine says she was denied sick pay and told to ‘go elsewhere’ after 10 years of work.
When Sandra, 55, did not receive wages for this period, her union intervened and – having first apparently been told she was not entitled to any money – she was eventually paid.
It was at this point that she received a letter saying her contracted hours (60 per week) were cut by almost 90%.
She said: “I can’t be a burden for my son, I won’t be.
“But he tells me ‘mamá, relax, look how sick you are’.”
Southwark Council’s cleaners, outsourced to facilities service provider OCS, are more widely protesting against proposed cuts and redundancies as well as regular failures to deliver sick pay.
According to statistics provided by the International Workers Union of Great Britain (IWGB), at least 50% of working hours across multiple sites are set to be cut, with redundancies of up to 70% in one public building.
Sandra said: “Sometimes you think you’ll end up on the streets.
“They want to make us invisible.”
IWGB General Secretary Henry Chango Lopez said: “Southwark Council must stop closing its eyes to the appalling exploitation taking place in its name.
“It’s time to cut ties with oppressive and incompetent outsourcing companies like OCS, and instead bring these essential workers in-house.
“Until that happens, the council continues to preside over a two-tier workforce, in which its mostly black and brown cleaning team are denied the rights and conditions the rest of its staff enjoy.”
Demonstrations were held outside Southwark Council HQ last month and a petition is also being distributed.
Another cleaner, Lucia Quisbert, 48, says she was underpaid by OCS for over a year despite repeatedly raising the issue to her managers.
For 18 months, her weekly paycheques were missing the two hours of work she does on Saturdays and the threat of cuts is adding to her distress.
She said: “The sadness leads to anxiety because I’m constantly thinking that my hours will be reduced.
“I think every employee is affected.”
This comes after the Government’s vow to protect workers last week in its Employment Rights Bill, which promised a “pro-business, pro-worker” approach that strengthened both statutory sick pay and protections against unfair dismissal.
UK workers have been entitled to protection against unfair dismissal since 1996 and, as of last week, this applies from day one.
Examples of unfair dismissal include those who lose their job after whistleblowing, requesting maternity leave, asking for flexible working or taking industrial action.
The legal definition is: “Your dismissal could be unfair if your employer does not have a good reason for dismissing you.”
As no explanation has been provided for these redundancies, IWGB has labelled them illegal.
Southwark Council have said that, since outsourcing their daily cleaning in 2022, the number of hours that OCS is contracted to provide has not changed.
A spokesperson stated: “We hugely value the work done by hard-working cleaners across Southwark’s parks, libraries and buildings.
“We expect all our contractors to work very closely with staff and unions on all issues related to employment.
“We are closely monitoring this situation and are in regular conversation with OCS.”
OCS has been approached for comment.
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