GMB, the union representing workers employed by OCS, will lobby the full council meeting to support the Labour Group at Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea as they put a motion to full council tomorrow 16th October asking the council to pay a London living wage of £8.55 to direct and contracted staff. See notes to editors for text of the motion.
This fits in with the GMB on-going campaign for OCS cleaners who have already taken three days of strike action for a London living wage of £8.55 per hour. They currently earn £7.18 per hour.
OCS holds the contract to provide cleaning services for Kensington Chelsea Tenants' Management Organisation (TMO) and the cleaners provide services for the residents on housing estates in the north and south of the borough.
The details of the lobby are as follows:
From 5.30pm on 16th October
Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea Town Hall,
Hornton Street,
London W8 7NX
GMB is expecting members with flags and banners.
Gary Carter, GMB Regional Officer, said “A London living wage is becoming a bigger issue across the Royal Borough as OCS cleaners have recently taken three days strike action in their campaign for a living wage of £8.55 per hour.
Kensington and Chelsea is the wealthiest borough in UK and workers providing services to residents in the borough should be paid a wage they can live on. Low waged workers require their incomes to be topped up by taxpayers to enable them to make ends meet. This is not fair to either taxpayers or the workers. Residents of the Borough should be able to see this and get the Tory Party to support this motion.
A London living wage is being adopted by more employers in the public and private sectors across the capital and is supported by Mayor of London. The council has the ability and finances to ensure council employees and contractors are paid the London living wage.”
Notes
London Living Wage Motion at Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea council meeting
As the cost of living rises and income stagnates, this Council is very concerned about the long-term effect of low wages on many of the borough's residents. The combination of low and stagnant wages, short-term and zero-hour contracts and part-time work is forcing people for the first time to apply for social security welfare payments, thereby relying on additional financial resources from the tax payer at a time when we are hoping to make sensible and sustainable efficiency savings that do not affect front-line services.
This Council is committed to create strong and resilient communities that are stable and self-supporting. Therefore this Council commits that from the 2014-15 financial year all directly employed and contracted staff will be paid at least the London Living Wage of £8.55 as determined by the GLA. This Council further commits to review its procurement, contract and best value polices to ensure that all workers directly or indirectly employed by the Council will be paid the London Living Wage.
Proposer: Cllr. Emma Dent Coad
Seconder: Cllr. Todd Foreman