Cleaners at prestigious girls' school win fight over pay and conditions

Cleaners at a prestigious London private school have won their battle for improved pay and working conditions, as well as compensation for steep cuts in their hours, and have scrapped plans for industrial action due to have started next week.

- Richard Adams

As part of the dispute, former pupils of James Allen's girls' school (Jags) in Dulwich, south-east London, distributed leaflets publicising the strike in the local community, and called on the school's leaders to set a better example to pupils.

The group of cleaners, belonging to United Voices of the World (UVW), a grassroots trade union for low-paid migrant workers, voted to strike after the school's contractor wanted to slash their working time from 43 to 38 weeks a year but offered only a £1.55 hourly pay rise in return.

After the vote to strike, and appeals from teachers and former students, the school and its cleaning contractor, DB Services, reversed course and offered the cleaners higher backdated pay of £13.15 an hour (the London living wage), as well as guaranteed annual increases.