On Saturday 23 June over a hundred people attended a demonstration organised by the IWW Cleaners' Branch in front of the John Lewis flagship store on Oxford Street. John Lewis prides themselves in caring for the well-being of their employees and sharing the profits of the company with them. Unfortunately, through outsourcing the company frees itself from this commitment with its cleaning staff.
Employed through a contractor, the cleaners are on the minimum legal wage of £6.08 per hour. They are threatened with 50% of redundancies with the remaining staff potentially covering all additional work. The workers cannot tolerate this. They demand the London Living Wage of £8.30 per hour. They say 'no' to redundancies and 'no' to increase in their workload. The protest on Saturday was called to make these demands as well as making the public aware of the dismal work conditions prevailing for cleaners in this company that so prides itself of its corporate responsibility.
A crowd of workers as well as people in solidarity turned up and made a lot of noise in front of the store for two hours. There were speeches from the members of the IWW Cleaners Branch, representatives of other IWW branches, other unions including PCS and RMT, and a Labour MP John McDonnell.
The strength of the union is the strength of the workers coming together to put pressure on the bosses. Today's demonstration, with its large crowd and energetic atmosphere was a great show of strength. The workers are balloting for strike action at John Lewis and will continue with weekly demonstrations until their demands are met.
reposted from IWW site - see link below:
Comments
Hide the following 8 comments
Bit late
25.06.2012 15:07
Mum worked at John Lewis
Not true
26.06.2012 09:41
This is not true. John Lewis contracted cleaners start on £6.08 per hour for their probation period of two months after this they are raised up to the £8.30 per hour London living wage, something that was agreed upon with Unite over nine months ago. The IWW has attempted to get some cheap and easy publicity for a cause that does not exist.
The IWW does not represent the views of John Lewis contract cleaners.
Shop Steward
Homepage: www.unitetheunion.org
£8.30 per hour !!!!!!!!!
26.06.2012 13:24
The CEO of John Lewis Group earns nearly £800,000 per year which is equal to £320 per hour and you can't convince me he is worth more than a cleaner.
We need to get out on the streets and seize back these companies from their 'owners' and give them to the people.
It's our company (at least it should be)
God save us from Socialists
26.06.2012 16:35
Korin
IWW fighting
27.06.2012 11:09
Person
CEOs are nothing special
27.06.2012 11:41
Unite "shop steward", hey loving the solidarity mate. I'm not a Wobbly but that kind of sectarian point-scoring makes me think of joining.
Rob
You are judging based on your own abilities
27.06.2012 13:11
>>> You are confusing labour time with value. A doctor is valued more highly by society than a dustman because only some people have the ability to be a doctor while just about anybody can be a dustman. It's the same here.
You might not like the fact but a fact it remains, there is only a small percentage of the population able to do certain jobs and they are rewarded accordingly where that skill adds value - for example:
Airline pilot
Heart Surgeon
Barrister
Football player
This is basic economics and I am surprised you need it explained to you.
Korin
Erm..Korin
28.06.2012 12:55
A