School cleaners take employers to High Court over low wages

By Toby Porter

A school’s cleaners are taking their employers to the High Court over their low wages because they are mostly Latin American.

Trade union United Voices of the World (UVW) is supporting a group of migrant staff suing La Retraite Roman Catholic Girls’ School in Atkins Road, Clapham Park, for “institutional racism”.

The legal challenge comes after negotiations between the two sides broke down after headteacher Dominic Malins refused the cleaners’ calls for the same sick pay that teachers receive.

The union’s officials say this is a “red-line” in negotiations.

The staff walked out on Wednesday in a dispute which they threatened could last 40 days and nights.

The cleaners, employed by contractors EcoCleen are on lower rates of pay and conditions to in-house staff.

They argue this amounts to indirect discrimination under the Equality Act 2010, as the cleaners are an entirely Black Asian, ethnic minority and migrant workforce, whereas teachers at the school are predominantly white and British.

The  cleaner’s union is also reporting the school to the Equality and Human Rights Commission for their failure to comply with their Public Sector Equality Duty.

UVW officials will mount a Judicial Review on the grounds that the decision is so “irrational” the courts should overturn it. The test for “irrationality” in judicial review cases is whether the decision “is so unreasonable that no reasonable person, acting reasonably, could have made it”.

Petros Elia, UVW Co-Founder and Organiser, said: “Denying the cleaners full pay sick pay in line with La Retraite staff is unjustifiable and unreasonable in the circumstances.

“We are in the middle of the most deadly pandemic for a century that has taken the lives of over 100,000 people in the UK, many of whom, according to leading epidemiologists, may have been saved from their untimely deaths were it not for being denied full sick pay.

“Providing full pay sick pay is not just a benefit for workers, but a matter of health and safety. Forcing workers to forgo their wages if they take a sick day leaves them feeling constrained to continue to come to work when ill – potentially with COVID-19 – putting themselves and others at risk.

“No worker should be forced to choose between protecting their health and that of their colleagues and loved ones, or complying with public health duties or making ends meet, especially when the financial means are available to save them from this Dickensian choice.

“In our our view, La Retraite’s decision to deny the workers full pay sick pay is a breach of the Equality Act, as La Retraite clearly has control over our members’ terms and conditions of employment and the decision disadvantages the cleaners, all of whom are either non-White or non-British, and does so without any objective justification.

“As a public body, La Retraite has a duty to ensure its decisions are ‘rational’.

“Denying these key workers full pay sick pay, something which would protect not just the workers, but La Retraite’s students and the wider public, and ensure its compliance with the Equality Act at an absolutely nominal cost, is entirely ‘irrational’.

“We will fight La Retraite for as long it takes, both through strike action and legal action. We hope Dominic Malins, the headteacher, will stop being cruel and vindictive and start treating the cleaners as equals.”

Magaly Quesada, one of the cleaners on strike and bringing legal proceedings said: “I feel annoyed, I feel frustrated and I feel inferior, because I do not understand why it is considered acceptable to deny someone full pay sick pay – in the middle of a pandemic – just because they work part time or work as a cleaner.

“I simply do not understand it. We are all human, so we deserve to be treated equally.

“None of us wanted to go on strike or to take La Retraite to court, but we have been left with no choice.

“We hope they see sense and stop their hypocrisy of on the one hand saying they are a Catholic school who live by the Catholic ethos of “treating everyone justly and as equals like Jesus did”, and then on the other hand treating us cleaners like we’re second class – or like the dirt we clean.

“We’re cleaners, we’re key workers and we’re proud, we will not stop fighting until we are treated with respect, dignity and equality.”

A spokeswoman for EcoCleen said: “Ecocleen remains fully committed to safeguarding the health and wellbeing of all of its workers.

“We recognise our employees’ right to go on strike and can confirm that all members of our team are entitled to statutory sick pay for their services and hard work during this challenging time.

“We welcome an open, transparent approach to addressing issues and concerns that relate to our work and will continue to be strong advocates of this approach.

“We remain in close dialogue and consultation with our workers to establish how Ecocleen is able to best support their needs and with our specialist health and safety team.”