Cleaners and concierge at luxury apartments fight for respect

The outsourced cleaning and concierge workers at the luxury flats complex of West End Quays in central London refuse to accept the long-term unfair real terms pay cut and inadequate working conditions.

“With the cost of living driving everything up – food, electricity, mortgages, shopping … – we can’t manage anymore. We haven’t been given a pay rise for a long time and our bonus was stopped in 2021, so effectively we earn less now than before. We’ve been trying to negotiate for months but nothing’s changed and now we have decided to take it into our own hands and are ready to go on strike.”
Franco Lombardo. UVW member at West End Quays

The outsourced cleaning and concierge workers at the luxury flats complex of West End Quays in central London refuse to accept the long-term unfair real terms pay cut and inadequate working conditions.

Cleaning contractor Lee Baron hasn’t given them a proper pay rise amid a cost of living crisis and they haven’t been paid their Christmas bonus since 2021.

With the exorbitant rise in the cost of living since then, the workers are struggling to cover their daily expenses, which has led to financial stress and hardship. They want a fair pay rise in line with RPI inflation, currently sitting at 13.8%

Their hard-fought Christmas bonus was taken away without their consent or consultation and they want it reinstated.

They also want their annual leave to be increased by one week as they only receive the statutory minimum; a fair overtime rate of time and a half; the same sick pay allowance for all workers; separate changing rooms for men and women to ensure privacy and security and they want their bosses to recognise their union of choice.