50 signatures reached
To: Chaand Nagpaul, Chair BMA Council, Dr David Wrigley, Deputy chair, Krishan AggarwalBMA, Director TheBMA, Prof Kailash Chand, Honorary Vice President of BMA, Tom Grinyer, Ceo of BMA
BMA cleaners demand equality. #BringThemInHouse
Restrictions are now lifted, but the need to keep workplaces clean & safe is as important as ever. Cleaners are essential in the prevention of the spread of #Covid. They do NOT deserve to be treated unfairly by the outsourcing companies like #CityWest. It's time @thebma bring them in-house.
Why is this important?
Cleaners at the British Medical Association's prestigious central London offices are campaigning to be brought in-house.
The cleaners, who are currently employed by CityWest Support Services, hope to become direct employees of the BMA from September, when their present period of Covid-related furlough is due to end.
The cleaners, who are currently employed by CityWest Support Services, hope to become direct employees of the BMA from September, when their present period of Covid-related furlough is due to end.
CAIWU, which represents the majority of the BMA cleaners, believes a re-evaluation of outsourcing as the preferred model for delivering cleaning and other services is both necessary and imminent. The outsourcing model has failed, condemning large numbers of workers to the status of second-class citizens, and increasing numbers of workers are starting to challenge it.
Cleaners at the University of East London are engaged in a long-running campaign to be brought in house, as the university's security staff were recently. Another campaign took place recently at
St George's University, and all of LSE's cleaners are now in-house.
Evidence suggests that bringing staff back in house can actually save companies money. An internal study at St George's University concluded that after initial set-up expenses, the University could cut its ongoing annual 'soft facilities management' bill by £200,000 by in-housing workers. It's hardly rocket science — as things stand, organisations aren't just paying for cleaners,they're also paying companies like CityWest a profit on top. In-housing ought to allow them to improve the cleaners' pay and conditions while still saving money.
There have even been suggestions that outsourcing could be an illegal discriminatory practice. The fact is that the vast majority of outsourced workers tend to be drawn from ethnic-minority communities and have limited English language skills. The stark differences between the profiles of direct employees compared to outsourced workers, with its attendant suggestion of discrimination, ought to be a significant cause for concern to the BMA and similar organisations.
The only people who really benefit from outsourcing are the outsourcing companies — companies which, you could say, are cleaning up at everyone else's expense.
The cleaners, who are currently employed by CityWest Support Services, hope to become direct employees of the BMA from September, when their present period of Covid-related furlough is due to end.
The cleaners, who are currently employed by CityWest Support Services, hope to become direct employees of the BMA from September, when their present period of Covid-related furlough is due to end.
CAIWU, which represents the majority of the BMA cleaners, believes a re-evaluation of outsourcing as the preferred model for delivering cleaning and other services is both necessary and imminent. The outsourcing model has failed, condemning large numbers of workers to the status of second-class citizens, and increasing numbers of workers are starting to challenge it.
Cleaners at the University of East London are engaged in a long-running campaign to be brought in house, as the university's security staff were recently. Another campaign took place recently at
St George's University, and all of LSE's cleaners are now in-house.
Evidence suggests that bringing staff back in house can actually save companies money. An internal study at St George's University concluded that after initial set-up expenses, the University could cut its ongoing annual 'soft facilities management' bill by £200,000 by in-housing workers. It's hardly rocket science — as things stand, organisations aren't just paying for cleaners,they're also paying companies like CityWest a profit on top. In-housing ought to allow them to improve the cleaners' pay and conditions while still saving money.
There have even been suggestions that outsourcing could be an illegal discriminatory practice. The fact is that the vast majority of outsourced workers tend to be drawn from ethnic-minority communities and have limited English language skills. The stark differences between the profiles of direct employees compared to outsourced workers, with its attendant suggestion of discrimination, ought to be a significant cause for concern to the BMA and similar organisations.
The only people who really benefit from outsourcing are the outsourcing companies — companies which, you could say, are cleaning up at everyone else's expense.