Beaver
Issue 855 | 4.10.16
the
Newspaper of the LSE Students’ Union
LSE Sweeps Cleaning Staff Problems Under the Rug Taryana Odayar Executive Editor LAST THURSDAY THE 29TH of October, an open meeting ‘Justice for LSE Cleaners!’ was held at the Thai Theatre in LSE’s New Academic Building, and was attended by LSE students, staff, trade unionists and journalists. The meeting was organised by United Voices of the World (UVW), a grassroots, independent trade union which represents low-paid migrant workers across London, and whose members are mostly cleaning staff. LSE’s current cleaning and ancillary services are outsourced to Ireland-based Noonan Group, which was first established in 1977 to provide contract cleaning services to a growing Irish public and private sector. The provisions of the contract between LSE and Noonan are outlined on the LSE website, “This contract represents a significant investment by the LSE to maintain and raise standards in FM (Facilities Management) service provision across the LSE main campus. Servicing is now provided 6am – 10pm Monday to Sunday and includes servicing of teaching rooms, meeting rooms and lecture theatres. Servicing of many conferences and events up to certain size will also be included within the scope of the contract. Day-to-day onsite management of all facets of the cleaning and ancillary services are provided in partnership by the Estates Division FM Team and resource group Service Delivery Managers (SDMs). They work shifts providing cover for the full working day including weekends.” The demands of the cleaners, who say they have been treated like “second class people” and “the dirt we clean”, are quite straightforward. They are asking that all outsourced staff receive parity of pay and terms and conditions of employment in line with those received by inhouse staff. Although the LSE outsources its cleaning staff from Noonan, the school still holds significant responsibility for the wellbeing of its cleaning staff,
as well as considerable influence over the terms and conditions of employment that Noonan provides to the cleaners working on the LSE campus. According to UVW, the cleaners are paid the London Living Wage of £9.40 per hour, but only have statutory minimum holidays, sick pay and pension contributions, compared to the more generous terms in-house LSE staff benefit from. The cleaners receive Statutory Sick Pay (SSP), which means they do not get paid for the first 3 days they are ill, and only get paid from the 4th consecutive day receiving £88.45 per week. Therefore, they usually opt to work even while sick so as to avoid losing income, whereas in-house staff receive occupational sick pay which entitles those who have 5 years of service under their belt to receive their full salary for 6 months, and half their salary for 6 months a year. As for Annual Leave, the cleaners get 28 days paid annual leave including bank holidays, whereas in-house staff get up to 40 days paid annual leave including bank holidays and university closures. When it comes to Pensions, the cleaners receive 1% contribution from their employer, with in-house staff receiving up to 16% contribution. Whilst UVW has taken the fight to the LSE and made a public stand on the issue, Unison remains the official Union representative of the LSE cleaners, and will be putting forward a formal claim as the representative of the cleaners in a forthcoming meeting between Unison, Noonan and the LSE this week. At the open meeting, several LSE cleaners testified to the discriminatory and unfair treatment they have received under their employer Noonan. Victoria Rojas disclosed that the cleaning staff do not have a room to eat or change their clothes in, and have been given specific instructions not to use the library lifts between the 4th and 5th floors. As Rojas is stationed in the library, she says she has to carry all of her cleaning products
between these floors without using the lifts. Mildred Simpson, a cleaning Supervisor who has been working at the LSE since 2001, says that whereas earlier she would supervise Tower 1 for 2 hours, she has now been tasked with supervising St Clements, Cowdray and Lakatos for the same 2 hours, basically doing the job of 3 people. Another member of the cleaning staff, Earney Williams, stated that “Noonan Managers are very incompetent” and that, “Since Noonan came in, its just been rubbish, rubbish, rubbish.” She added that the Managers display favoritism to certain staff, and have even asked the cleaners have been asked to do plumbing work in the past. Kinkeba Makanda Iwimbi said that the discrimination and injustice occurring on campus extends from the LSE Manager to the Noonan Manager. “How would you feel if you are in our shoes?”, he asked at the meeting, adding, “I didn’t choose to be a cleaner. Its just circumstances.” The testimonies clearly struck a raw nerve with those in the room, particularly a group of male cleaners standing at the back, who looked visibly distraught while listening to their colleagues’
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testimonies. Some of them were even crying. Most worrying perhaps, is the case of Alba Pasmino, a cleaning Supervisor who worked at the LSE for 10 years but was made redundant on Tuesday the 27th of September, and told that Friday the 30th would be her last day. In a letter received by Alba from Noonan in August 2016, she was told that Noonan would be cutting down the number of Supervisors from 18 to 13, and restructuring the role to that of ‘Team Leader.’ The letter stated, “Having reviewed the Supervisor structure within the LSE, the nature of the contract and the roles and responsibilities of all employees assigned to this contract, and taking into account how we can best deliver a more efficient service to our client and the public, we propose the removal of the supervisory function and the introduction of a Team Lead function of 13 Team Leads. Regrettably we therefore propose the loss of 5 of the current Supervisor roles at the LSE.” When Pasmino was informed last Tuesday that she was one of the Supervisors being made redundant, she asked if she could apply for the Team Leader position instead, but was told that the application deadline for the
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Photo Credit: Peter Marshall & UVW
role had already passed. The only other role available was that of Cleaner, which she could not take up due to an occupational incident in 2012 when she contracted hand Dermatitis, and so she was made redundant. Cleaning staff are especially prone to contracting occupationrelated Dermatitis, and a report by Nottingham University’s Centre of Evidence Based Dermatology lists 80% of work-related skin disease as being contact Dermatitis (THOR-GP data). Speaking about the incident, Pasmino said that the cleaners are exposed to strong chemicals, and that the skin on her hands was severely damaged as a result of using these chemicals in 2012, with her condition worsening significantly in 2014. As a result, her skin started peeling off and she developed a bad case of Dermatitis, which meant that she couldn’t work for several months. Pasmino started taking medication such as cell regenerating cream which was prescribed by a Doctor so that she could continue working, as she said neither Noonan nor LSE provided her with any form of support.
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