12.08.2024 / Press releases / James Allen's Girls' School / Justice for Cleaners

Cleaners at JAGS, private school in South London, announce strike action

• Outsourced migrant cleaners at the Times’ Independent Secondary School of the Year 2024, JAGS in Dulwich, will strike for three days against huge pay cuts at the start of the school year.

• The trade union United Voices of the World (UVW) announced the strike following a unanimous vote in favour of the strike ballot.

• A last minute lump sum offer was made by the school’s contractor in an attempt to avert the strike and ‘to acknowledge the lack of consultation and upset’

• JAGS’ parents, alumni and local residents have expressed their concern about the cuts in pay and hours and the general disregard for the cleaners’ wellbeing by the prestigious £24,000-a-year private school, where the Head alone takes home 200k per year, as well as outrage for trade union-busting tactics employed to deal with the dispute.

Migrant cleaners at James Allen’s GIrls School, JAGS, in Dulwich, South London are taking strike action on 2, 3 & 5 September against huge pay cuts. The strike announcement was made by the cleaners union, UVW, following a unanimous vote to strike and despite an offer of £350 to each worker “to acknowledge the lack of consultation and the resulting upset”.

The cleaners are demanding the same sick pay scheme as teachers, and the cessation of attempts to reduce their annual working weeks by five without consultation. The proposed five-week cut in hours would save the school a mere £20,000 annually at the expense of the lowest-paid workers, whilst school fees for one student exceeds £24,000. 

The outsourced migrant cleaners had their pay unlawfully slashed by 12%, from £13.15 to £11.55 an hour, without prior notice on payday, July 9, following the announcement of a successful strike ballot—the school’s first-ever cleaners’ strike ballot. UVW has commenced legal action in opposition to this unlawful deduction of wages. 

The cuts in hours, and now in pay, have left UVW members struggling to make ends meet. Meanwhile JAGS’ boasts a significant income of £25 million annually and the Head teacher takes home over £200k per year. The pay cut was administered by the school’s contractor, DB Services, which employs the cleaners, with the full knowledge of the Head of JAGS.

The school, ranked Independent Secondary School of the Year in 2024 by The Times, claims to uphold values of inclusion, diversity, and equity. The parents, alumni and locals’ reaction to these recent events underscores the community’s expectation that JAGS should live up to its professed values. 

Rosa Garcés Chinche, cleaner at JAGS for four years and UVW member, said:

“We are going on strike to protect our wages and our hours, but more than that, also for respect and dignity at work. When they cut our hours and cut our wages, they did not even consult us or talk to us, they just did whatever they wanted without even thinking of us, considering us as people with lives, not respecting us. And now that we fight back, they try to punish us by cutting our wages. We put in so much hard work cleaning their school, yet they do not value us, they do not recognise the work we do. These high-level directors don’t have a clue about the work we put in to keep the school clean, yet they cut out wages and cut hours, and we have no say. It feels like modern slavery, we deserve respect for the work we do.”

Gloria Jeanina Chalaco Yanayaco, cleaner at JAGS for two years and UVW member, said: 

“We all decided to go on strike because we want respect in our workplace, we want to feel valued as people. They never took us into account when they made the decision to cut hours and cut wages and this is a complete lack of respect. We are people who simply want to be valued for the work they do.“

Barrister Eloise Power and Michael Glendinning, JAGS parents and local residents, said in a letter to the headteacher:

“(…) We are conscious that the school, as a key client, will be in a position to exercise pressure upon DB Services behind the scenes – and we very much hope that this is already happening and that the cleaners’ hours and pay will be reinstated. We also recognise the pressure that all independent schools are currently under in the wake of the new government’s decision to impose VAT on school fees from January 2025 – but it is at times like this that the moral imperative to protect the most vulnerable in society becomes more, not less, pressing (…) We hope that the values of kindness and authenticity which are enshrined in the class names at JAGS will be put into practice by the school in relation to the dispute with the cleaning staff.“

Dr Marcela Pizarro, former alumna and lecturer at Goldsmiths, said:

“It is surely ironic that JAGS has an entire webpage dedicated to pledges of equality and diversity. How easy it is to sound high minded when marketing the ethos of the school, while domestic staff, mostly people of colour, mostly migrants, are being stripped of their rights! JAGS has ignored the cleaners’ demands, and has ignored the fact that DBS, the company they pay to manage domestic staff, have been trying to intimidate and dissuade the cleaners from union activity. The school’s directors are failing on their own terms when it comes to confronting systemic racism. The cleaners refuse to back down – they will no doubt have support from many who find out about this shameful dispute, including JAGS students themselves.”

Kiran Grewal, Human Rights lawyer, Professor of Sociology said: 

“I live in the area and my child has gone to holiday camps at JAGS but as someone who focuses on human rights I’m absolutely horrified, considering how much money JAGS makes and the campus that it has, at the fact that they would begrudge the people that maintain that campus and make it so beautiful for all of us a loss of five weeks of pay. This is completely outrageous. I absolutely back the cleaners’ strike.”

Petros Elia, general secretary UVW:

“The excellent reputation of JAGs in education could not stand in starker contrast to their appalling reputation as an employer. The financial hardship they have inflicted on the cleaners is nothing short of cruel and callous. The cleaners’ decision to strike is a last resort that demonstrates their strength of feeling in this dispute and should serve as a wake up call to JAGs who now have a choice to make: stop treating the cleaners like the dirt they clean and pay them what they’re or face endless strike action.” 

For further information contact the UVW comms team:

Cristina: 07548 759340 

Isabel: 07706 987443
Jim: 07749 765264

E-mail: comms@uvwunion.org.uk 

About UVW

United Voices of the World is an anti-racist, member-led, direct action, campaigning trade union and we exist to support and empower the most vulnerable groups of precarious, low-paid and predominantly BAME and migrant workers in the UK. We fight the bosses through direct action on the streets and through the courts and demand that all members receive at least the London Living Wage, full pay, sick pay, dignity, equality and respect.

Note to editors

Worker’s response to offers made by JAGS:

“We are tired of being disrespected by DB Services. We are tired of their threats and your blackmail. We will not accept their most recent attempt to scare us and divide us. We do not accept our salary being cut. We do not accept our hour being cut. We do not accept working without any sick pay scheme.

We will not sign away our rights and instead are willing and ready to go on Strike on the first week of school, and to continue fighting after that as well, in order to pressure JAGs and DBS to accept our basic demands.

We will go public, speak with the media, with parents, with teachers and continue to fight until we win.

We are fighting for dignity and respect at work. Not just for me, but for all cleaners!”

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