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You can find the current article at its original source at https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2019/may/21/westminster-support-staff-strike-missed-pay-cheques
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| Westminster support staff go on strike over missed pay | |
| (32 minutes later) | |
| Support staff working for the government in Westminster have gone on strike over missed payments and low pay that they say have left them living in poverty and forced them to turn to food banks to survive. | Support staff working for the government in Westminster have gone on strike over missed payments and low pay that they say have left them living in poverty and forced them to turn to food banks to survive. |
| Canteen staff from the business department, who are staging the four days of strike action for the London living wage, were joined on the picket lines by cleaning staff who have been left destitute after the outsourcing firm that employs them, ISS, repeatedly missed pay days. | Canteen staff from the business department, who are staging the four days of strike action for the London living wage, were joined on the picket lines by cleaning staff who have been left destitute after the outsourcing firm that employs them, ISS, repeatedly missed pay days. |
| They then marched five minutes across Westminster to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office, where maintenance workers, cleaners and catering staff are employed by Interserve, which is facing severe financial problems and has stopped holiday pay for overtime and sick pay for some workers. | They then marched five minutes across Westminster to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office, where maintenance workers, cleaners and catering staff are employed by Interserve, which is facing severe financial problems and has stopped holiday pay for overtime and sick pay for some workers. |
| One Interserve worker at the FCO explained that the company was withholding two weeks’ wages while it switched to a new payroll period, promising it would repay the money to workers when they left the company. Workers who were paid monthly have had to wait six weeks between payments while the company restructures to avoid collapse. | |
| “I’ve got bills to pay,” he said. “I can’t afford to go six weeks without money. I’ve got to pay six weeks’ mortgage out of two weeks’ money.” Interserve were also refusing to recognise their union, workers said. “They have told us this is an illegal strike. It’s not. We have followed the rules and balloted properly. We just want to be recognised and we can fight our corner. We’re not asking for special treatment.” | “I’ve got bills to pay,” he said. “I can’t afford to go six weeks without money. I’ve got to pay six weeks’ mortgage out of two weeks’ money.” Interserve were also refusing to recognise their union, workers said. “They have told us this is an illegal strike. It’s not. We have followed the rules and balloted properly. We just want to be recognised and we can fight our corner. We’re not asking for special treatment.” |
| Similar problems at the business department had been compounded by the arrival of a new outsourcing contractor, ISS, which had repeatedly failed to pay cleaners and security guards on time, workers said. | |
| That department’s Public and Commercial Services Union branch was forced to set up food banks for support workers left without essential supplies while the problems continued. The union had handed out about £1,000 in emergency payments to members to help them pay their rent, a source close to the dispute said. | That department’s Public and Commercial Services Union branch was forced to set up food banks for support workers left without essential supplies while the problems continued. The union had handed out about £1,000 in emergency payments to members to help them pay their rent, a source close to the dispute said. |
| One cleaner said colleagues had been left in tears after checking their bank balances on pay day and finding out they had not been paid. “They have got rent to pay and they can’t tell their landlords that they have to pay later because the billion-pound company that employs them can’t pay them on time,” he said. | One cleaner said colleagues had been left in tears after checking their bank balances on pay day and finding out they had not been paid. “They have got rent to pay and they can’t tell their landlords that they have to pay later because the billion-pound company that employs them can’t pay them on time,” he said. |
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