GMB Strike Ballot For Contract Cleaners Working For Lambeth Borough Council

GMB the trade union for Local Government Workers is holding a strike ballot for Cleaners in Lambeth Council. The employer OCS operates a Two Tier Workforce and employs Cleaners on worse terms and conditions than those staff who transferred to them from Lambeth Council.

Cleaners working on OCS employment contracts in Lambeth Town Hall get 12 days holiday per year plus Bank Holidays and Cleaners who transferred from Lambeth Council get 26 days plus Bank Holidays. Cleaners on OCS contracts are not entitled to any occupational sick pay and this is also different to the colleagues who transferred from Lambeth Council.

GMB has raised this dispute at the highest levels within Lambeth Council and emphasised that OCS is in breach of their service agreement with Lambeth Council. All the Cleaners are on the minimum wage and GMB has written to OCS with a pay proposal for a minimum £7 per hour living wage. OCS has not responded to a GMB proposal on pay that was sent in December 2006 for the pay round 2007/8.

Bill Modlock, GMB Branch Secretary in Lambeth said: "For the past 3 years Lambeth Council has been using the Building Cleaning Contractor OCS to clean a large number of their Schools and Civic Building including Lambeth Town Hall. The service contract between Lambeth Council and OCS includes a clause on Two Tier Working that expressly covers this problem. In April 2004 when OCS first took over the running of the Lambeth Council Building Cleaning Contract the Code of Practice (COP) on workforce matters was incorporated in the Service Contract document. The COP forms part of the service specification and conditions for all such contracts. The COP states that service providers that cut costs by driving down the terms and conditions of service for staff, whether for transferees or new starters taken on to work beside them, will not provide best value and will not be selected to provide services for the Council. Yet this is precisely what has happened in Lambeth. GMB has asked the Council what action they are taking to remedy this problem and to date we have not had a reply."

GMB Lambeth Branch conducted an informal ballot in February 2006 and Bill Modlock, Lambeth Branch Secretary said "We have attempted to remedy this dispute over the past 6 months, this has included a grievance with OCS and numerous meetings with the Lambeth Council Client Officers. This is not something that GMB take lightly and we have done everything open to us to avoid an industrial dispute. The time has passed for talking and now we expect to see some action to address the unacceptable treatment of our members who have been exploited for far too long." 

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Contact: Bill Modlock, GMB Branch Secretary on 020 8926 1147 or GMB Press Office: Rose Conroy on 07974 251823 or Steve Pryle on 07921 289880.