the amey case: burn your bridges, save your dignity

by Mónica del Pilar Uribe Marin

Two of the workers sacked by Amey in September 2008, who had fought for reinstatement and compensation, recently lost their legal battle, which had lasted almost a year. A judge made clear on August 10th that the verdict was final and cannot be appealed: the plaintiffs had defamed the company by handing out leaflets where the names of Amey and its manager Laura Jordan were in bold capital letters, something deemed aggressive and ‘inexcusable’ in the English language.

Julio Mayor and Pedro Rengifo thus lost the case, their jobs and the money they had been offered (an attempt to buy their silence: they refused with – and for the sake of – their dignity).

video on cleaners’ dispute at npl/amey

In December 2006 the government’s National Physical Laboratory, contracted out its cleaning to Amey, a multimillion pound services provider. When they took over the contract there were 36, unionised Latin American cleaners earning £7 an hour. After an immigration raid and multiple sackings there are now 15, many of whom are on temporary contracts and only earning the minimum wage.

Julio and Pedro were sacked for trying to tell the other staff what was going on.

Contact: contact@caic.org.uk for more information and to get involved with the campaign for reinstatement.

demos for reinstatement of sacked colombian cleaners

Reinstate the 5 sacked Colombian cleaners. Papers for All.
Que reintegren a los 5 cleaners colombianos despedidos. Papeles para todos.

Wednesday 29th October
Protest outside the Amey offices in central London.
12.30 – 1.30pm
Meet 12.30pm @ Chancery Lane tube on the Central Line
protest at 5th Floor, 1 Waterhouse Square, London EC1N 2ST

Thursday 30th October
Protest outside the Amey offices in Colindale (supported by Barnet Trades Council)
12.30 – 1.30pm
Meet 12.30pm @ Colindale tube on the Northern Line
protest at 8th Flr, Merit House, Edgware Road,, Colindale, London NW9 5AF

solidarity action for sacked national physical laboratory cleaners

from Jake:

This is to invite you to our next action in support of the five sacked Colombian cleaners working for Amey Plc at the National Physical Laboratory (NPL). (see background story at http://caic.org.uk/node/18)

Date: Wednesday 22 October Time: meet 12.30 Embankment station (south/river exit) to walk together to the Institute of Engineering and Technology, next to the Savoy Hotel, Savoy Place (south side), where there is an all-day conference which NPL is supporting

Bring: anything visible or noisy.