HMRC cleaners to strike over pay

25 July 2016

Public and Commercial Services Union (PCS) members employed by multinational ISS, working as cleaners in HMRC buildings on Merseyside, are to strike against imposed changes to their pay and conditions.

The cleaners will begin a two-day strike starting on 25 July 2016, followed by an overtime ban and a work to rule.

The members of PCS Revenue and Customs Group’s Bootle Taxes and Liverpool City branches have not ruled out escalating strike action, if ISS continue to refuse to reconsider their position.

Recent PCS pay claims presented to HMRC have called on the department to ensure that its contractors pay their staff the real living wage, defined by the Living Wage Foundation as £8.25 an hour outside London. However, the Danish multinational - whose net profit doubled to nearly £250million in 2015 - has now cut the hours of the cleaners, claiming that they cannot afford to meet the introduction of the government’s much lower 'national living wage' (£7.20 an hour for over 25s).

In a ballot of the 30 cleaners from six offices in Bootle and Liverpool 100% voted for strikes on a 66% turnout.

Read the full press release from Public and Commercial Services Union.