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“I can’t believe they have cut our pay. It is blackmail what they’re doing – forcing us to agree to a cut in hours or a cut in pay. I don’t feel valued. I feel outraged…We will fight back with everything, for our rights and the rights of anyone else who ever works in this company. The fight is not just for me. It is for everyone.””
Nelsa Jimenez, a cleaner at JAGS and UVW member,
Outsourced migrant cleaners at the prestigious £24,000-a-year private school James Allen’s Girls’ School (JAGS) in Dulwich, London, are fighting against cuts to their work and pay of 5 weeks per year, proposed and implemented without consultation.
The cleaners were told to accept a cut in five weeks of work and pay per year to be granted the London Living Wage of £13.15 per hour, changes which left them out of pocket.
When the cleaners refused – and voted unanimously to strike – their pay was unlawfully slashed by a whopping 12%, bringing it back to the lower rate of £11.55 per hour.
The cleaners are employed directly by contractor DB Services, who are said to be acting on the school’s request to cut the cleaners’ hours.
The cleaners, who earn just 11p above the minimum wage per hour, have now had their pay slashed to a rate even lower than LLW in 2022 and their hours cut.
The Head of JAGS, earns over £200,000 a year, and there are also 38 other employees of the school with salaries between £60,000 and £90,000, and several others who earn over £100,000.
JAGS boast a significant income of £25 million annually and total net assets of £41 million, yet the five-week cuts in hours requested will save it a meager £20,000 a year on the backs of the lowest-paid workers there. The school was ranked Independent Secondary school of the Year in 2024 by The Times and claims to profess values of inclusion, diversity, and equity.
Stand in solidarity with the cleaners and call on JAGS and DB Services to reinstate the cleaner’s hours and pay, and give them a decent sick pay scheme.
Martiza Holguin, a cleaner at JAGS and UVW member, says:
“I have worked there for so many years. I wake up at 4am every day, in the rain, the snow, and waiting in the cold after I arrive until they open the doors. They have no respect for us. No respect for workers. We clean the whole school until it shines whilst the company gets all the thanks and profit. They never thank us, never treat us well and now they are robbing us. I am so disappointed. Outraged. And this illegal cut of my pay has left me in a really bad situation. I have rent to pay, food to buy and children to care for. We’re only asking for what we need to eat to get by in London and my colleagues are going to fight hard to win the security and dignity they are trying to strip us of. We’ll never give up.”
Gloria Chalaco, cleaner at JAGs and UVW member, said:
“We are ready to strike because losing five weeks of work per year is deeply unfair. 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 income loss, especially with scattered weeks off throughout the year. Our bills and rent don’t stop. On top of that, we don’t have sick pay. When we get sick, we either work while ill or lose our pay. We demand changes, including sick pay. They don’t respect us, the cleaners, as people with the same needs and rights as everyone else, yet we ensure the environment is healthy and safe for the pupils.”
Guido Fabián Guallichco, cleaner of 12 years at JAGs and UVW member:
“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 have been forced to make this decision to ballot for a strike in order to be heard. We are united and we are going to fight because if we accept this way of being treated today, there will be consequences later, both here for us and for all workers in the sector.”
THE WORKERS DEMAND:
Support UVW to help low-paid and migrant workers struggle for dignity, equality and respect. ✊🏾