On Wednesday 28^th June T&G (Unite) members went on strike at Haggerston School in Hackney. The catering workers employed by Sodexho are fighting for decent pay. They are currently being paid less than the minimum wage. How is this French multinational getting away with it? The workers are paid £4.51 an hour. As they work only during the school term time, they were told if they wanted to be paid throughout the year they had to accept this rate. If they were only paid for the days the school is open, they would receive £5.35 an hour, but get nothing in the holidays. Even this rate is well below the living wage, especially for workers in London.

But what really angered the catering staff was when they discovered that workers in a school just down the road, Hackney Free and Parochial, doing exactly the same job were being paid £9 an hour. Why the difference? At Haggerston the school is tied into a contract with the Sodexho for the next 20 years. It is a PFI deal which the governing body signed with the company in return for the building of a canteen. Apparently Sodexho feel their profits are being squeezed by the government’s healthy eating initiative. Clearly if they can’t make money out of ruining children’s health, they need to pay their staff poverty wages. And the Haggerston School management – thanks to privatisation -appear to be able to do nothing about it.

Sodexho are well known throughout the public sector for running privatised services. They are also infamous for their role in running the voucher scheme for asylum seekers – making a profit out of some of the most vulnerable in our society.

When the Haggerston staff began to fight back, they were immediately faced with intimidation. One of the women managers was told that if she went on strike she would be sacked.

Union members approached other workers in the school to gain their support. On the day of the strike 35 teachers and two technicians refused to cross the T&G picket line in solidarity with the catering staff. This was despite numerous letters from the school management and union officials threatening dire consequences if anyone took secondary action. Union members in the National Union of Teachers received three letters from their General Secretary Steve Sinnott telling them to cross the picket line.

Trade unionists on the picket line were joined by a number of pupils at the school who were outraged to discover the appalling wages being paid to the canteen staff. Most pupils had to be sent home on the day of the strike because there were not enough teachers on site.

Since returning to work those who did not cross the picket line have been threatened with disciplinary action for misconduct or gross misconduct, which can lead to dismissal.

The campaign to defend these trade unionists and to fight for a living wage for the catering staff in the school continues.

Please send messages of support to:

T&G/NUT workers at Haggerston School, Weymouth Terrace, London E2 8LS

Download the petition.

Haggerston School …

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