CONTRACT cleaners at a top private school for girls in London are to strike over pay cuts.

The migrant cleaners at the £24,000-a-year James Allen’s Girls’ School (Jags) in south London’s affluent Dulwich area say their employer DB Services cut their pay from £13.15 to £11.55 an hour in July after they voted to strike against a reduction in working hours by the equivalent of five weeks a year.

The cleaners are members of the United Voices of the World (UVW) union and voted unanimously for strike action.

They will walk out on September 2, 3 and 5.

The cleaners say that the pay cuts were imposed with the full knowledge of the school’s management, and that they have been victims of union-busting.

They also say they have won support from parents, former students and local residents in the area.

UVW general secretary Petros Elia said: “The excellent reputation of Jags in education could not stand in starker contrast to their appalling reputation as an employer.

“The financial hardship they have inflicted on the cleaners is nothing short of cruel and callous.

“The cleaners’ decision to strike is a last resort that demonstrates their strength of feeling in this dispute and should serve as a wake-up call to Jags which now has a choice to make: stop treating the cleaners like the dirt they clean and pay them what they’re or face endless strike action.” 

The cleaners want the restoration of their working hours and their pay. They also want to be included in the school’s staff sick pay scheme.

One of the workers, Gloria Jeanina Chalaco Yanayaco, said: “We all decided to go on strike because we want respect in our workplace, we want to feel valued as people.

“They never took us into account when they made the decision to cut hours and cut wages and this is a complete lack of respect. We are people who simply want to be valued for the work they do.”

Another cleaner, Rosa Garces Chinche, said that the employers were punishing the workers with pay cuts for voting to go on strike.

The school was invited to comment.