| Date |
Events |
November 2000 |
Retreat of TELCO leaders discussed common concerns
and focused on poverty, privatisation and the challenges
on people’s time. Discussed the experience
of the living wage campaigns in the US and floated
the idea. |
January 2001 |
UNISON commissioned the Family Budget Unit to
determine the living wage rate for London. |
| September 2001 |
Published Mapping Low Pay in East London,
documenting the extent to which low paid workers
are in the gap between the minimum and living wage,
with very poor conditions of work. Launched at a
conference held at Queen Mary, University of London. |
| November 2001 |
Public assembly of up to 1000 held at York Hall,
Bethnal Green, attended by local MPs, officials
from HSBC and John Monks (General Secretary of the
TUC), who restated the case for a living wage. |
| December 2001 |
Occupied a branch of HSBC in Oxford Street to
protest at the low pay and poor conditions of cleaners
at the Canary Wharf site. |
| April 2002 |
Parliamentary hearing for the living wage campaign,
held at the House of Commons with invited MPs and
a guest speaker from Baltimore. |
| May 2002 |
At least 40 ISS workers, along with representatives
from local mosques, churches, colleges and the media
attended a meeting of the NHS Trust board at the
Homerton Hospital, made a presentation and handed
over a petition with 600 signatures from hospital
staff. |
May 2002 |
Attended AGM of HSBC to demand a meeting with
the Chairman, Sir John Bond, to discuss contracting
arrangements at Canary Wharf. TELCO activists had
bought shares and were able to interrupt the meeting,
asking for action. |
| June 2002 |
Meeting held with Sir John Bond (Chairman of HSBC)
who rejected the idea of interfering in the market
in order to pay cleaners more. |
| July 2002 |
UNISON/TELCO submitted a claim for improved conditions
for staff working for the contractors ISS Mediclean
and Medirest at 5 East London hospitals. |
| Autumn 2002 |
Living wage campaign supported by Billy Bragg’s
tour, raising the profile and finance from gigs
across the country. |
| November 2002 |
Held living wage march involving local schools
along the Mile End Road before large public assembly
at the People’s Palace, Queen Mary, University
of London. Led by black Pentecostal churches from
the area. Focused on the NHS and developing a relationship
with the Mayor of London. |
| March 2003 |
Held academic conference at the London School
of Economics to make the case for a living wage,
drawing on US experience. |
| April 2003 |
Public rally of 200 contract workers involved
in the East London claims held in Stratford, addressed
by the General Secretary of UNISON and workplace
activists, building for industrial action in pursuit
of the claim. |
| May 2003 |
Public assembly of about 500 held in Stratford,
to confirm support for a strike of contract staff
in the hospitals. New aspect of the campaign also
developed to work on better ethical standards in
UK contracting practice. |
| May 2003 |
Demonstration outside and inside HSBC’s
AGM, again putting pressure on the bank over contracting
arrangements at Canary Wharf. Generated a lot of
media attention and the pressure coincided with
the appointment of a new Director from the US, who
was to be paid £35 million. |
| June 2003 |
Improved offer accepted by contract staff at the
Homerton and Mile End/St Clements Hospitals, to
secure immediate improvements and parity with NHS
conditions by 2006. Strike and large demonstration
held to try and increase the wage level and improve
the offer at Whipps Cross Hospital. Later offer
made to Royal London contract staff. |
| September 2003 |
Discussion of plans to launch an initiative for
socially responsible contracting with cleaning clients,
the industry, unions and ethical investors, held
at the DTI. |
| November 2003 |
Launch of Socially Repsonsible Contracting
document at Portcullis House, Westminster. Chaired
by John Cruddas MP, attended by Barclays, major
banks, cleaning companies, ethical investors and
MPs. Estimated to cost 30% more for contracts that
meet standards. |
| February 2004 |
Barclays Bank agrees to new terms and conditions
for contract cleaners employed at new HQ in Canary
Wharf. Pay to rise to £6 an hour, 15 days
paid sick and 8 extra days holiday. Access to the
pension scheme also included. Reported by BBC Newsnight,
good media coverage.
Around this time, the T&G deployed two full-time
union organisers to work at Canary Wharf. |
| May 2004 |
Mayoral Accountability Assembly, Westminster Central
Hall, calls on all candidates to support the establishment
of a Living Wage Unit to publish an annual living
wage for the capital. Ken Livingstone, the successful
candidate agrees. Barclays praised publicly at the
meeting. |
| May 2004 |
OCS Cleaning announce a new package for staff
at HSBC Canary Wharf (produced in negotiation with
HSBC). Wage increase of 11% to £6.10 an hour,
8 extra days holiday and 10 days sick pay. Changing
shift patterns to reduce night working and those
doing nights to be paid 30% increase. Encouragement
for training and career development. Invitation
to join OCS pension scheme. Agreement made 2 weeks
before HSBC AGM. |
| November 2004 |
COMPACT signed between London Citizens and the
London Olympic Committee to endorse an ethical olympics.
Agreement includes paying a living wage to contractors
working on the Olympic construction and those employed
during the events. |
| March 2005 |
The Living Wage Unit (GLA) publishes A Fairer
London and announces poverty threshold wage
of £5.80 an hour and a living wgae of £6.70
(including benefits and tax credits) for the capital.
One in five workers found to be on less than the
living wage. Mayor agrees to roll out the living
wage to the GLA/TfL and to include it as a criteria
in grant-giving process. |
| May 2005 |
General Election used as an opportunity to hold
accountability assemblies with the main candidates
in each constituency asking them to support a living
wage along with other TELCO/London Citizens demands. |
| July 2005 |
London Citizens-QM Summer Academy project to research
the pay and conditions of workers in other low paying
sectors of the economy: care, hospitality, transport
cleaning, office cleaning. Making the city work:
low paid employment in London launched at South
London Citizens Assembly. |
| August 2005 |
IPPR became the first third sector organisation
to address the living wage for cleaners, and employ
ethical cleaning company. |
| September 2005 |
T&G steps up its organising campaign in Canary
Wharf. Living wage breakthrough at Deutsche Bank
in the City. Followed by Morgan Stanley, Lehman
Brothers and Citigroup at Canary Wharf, KPMG, PWC,
RBS (mainly in 2006) in the City. Starts to move
onto the underground network. |
| October 2005 |
Living wage organising effort started at Queen
Mary, University of London with rally held to win
improved conditions for KGB cleaners. |
| February 2006 |
Parity with NHS terms and conditions secured for
contracted cleaners at Homerton and Whipps Cross
hospitals (the latter only after more industrial
action). |
| April 2006 |
Research published into impact of living wages
paid to domestics at the Royal London Hospital,
as staff brought in-house via a PFI deal in Summer
2005. |
| April 2006 |
Queen Mary declared to be the first living wage
campus in the UK and campaign taken up at the London
School of Economics. |
| May 2006 |
May day mass to honour migrant workers attracts
up to 2000 people to Westminster Cathedral. Homily
given by Cardinal Cormac Murphy O’Connor with
call for regularisation, taken up by London Citizens
rally outside. Founding of London Citizens Workers’
Association (LCWA). |
| May 2006 |
TELCO and London First organise conference for
the industry, to discuss efforts to raise standards:
Keeping London Clean and Well. |
| May 2006 |
GLA publishes A Fairer London updating
the living wage figure to £7.05 |
| July 2006 |
London Citizens and UNITE-HERE work together on
hotel rising campaign to take the living wage to
London’s hotel sector by targeting the Hilton
group and Kensington Close. Mass action at Hilton
Metropole to demand meeting with Howard Friedman,
the President of Hilton International in the UK.
Ongoing recruitment of workers to LCWA from LSE,
Tate Modern and Hilton group. |
September
2006 |
Draft Olympic delivery procurement policy found
to have dropped commitment to a living wage. Rally
held to target David Higgins, Chief Executive of
Olympics Delivery Authority (ODA) for a meeting. |
| November 2006 |
Meetings held with Managers from Hilton Group
about employment conditions. |
| November 2006 |
TELCO 10th Anniversary Assembly, Queen Mary announce
plan to bring back cleaning in-house and exceed
living wage demands; ODA promise to meet and discuss
the living wage. Sir John Bond is honoured on stage
for his willingness to work with TELCO to make improvements
at HSBC, despite his initial hostility. |
| November 2006 |
T&G step up efforts for a zonal agreement
for cleaning standards across Canary Wharf and the
City, sign up ISS, OCS and Lancaster. |
| December 2006 |
LSE agree to significant improvements in the pay
and conditions of cleaning staff. Following a transition
period up to Summer 2009 all cleaners will earn
the living wage, have 28 days holiday and sick pay. |
| January 2007 |
Lobby of ODA over living wage at the 2012 Olympic
site. |
| March 2007 |
ODA publish procurement policy declares fully
support for the London living wage. To abide by
the legal requirements, the policy states that:
“The ODA will ask its contractors if they
would be prepared to adopt fair employment measures
including the London living wage … [and this]
will be taken into account when the ODA advertises
contracts and considers tenders.” |
| March 2007 |
Macquarie Bank announce an agreement with their
contractor Greencrest to pay a living wage and to
provide 28 days holiday and sick pay. McGraw Hill
also supports contractor Lancaster to pay a living
wage. |
| April 2007 |
GLA announce new living wage of £7.20 an
hour. |
| May 2007 |
Protest held at Canary Wharf to target Barclays
who were paying well below the living wage. Talks
agreed. |
| May 2007 |
Evidence gathered to make a case for a living
wage at Food Partners, a sandwich factory in West
London employing members of a Lithuanian Church
in membership of TELCO. |
| June 2007 |
Lobby of the London Fire and Emergency Planning
Authority to ensure living wage for cleaners –
which was agreed. |
| July 2007 |
Barclays announce decision to pay over the living
wage (£7.50 an hour) to all 1000 cleaners
in London with immediate effect. |
| October 2007 |
Students at Trinity Catholic High School hold
an Olympics Assembly at school with Dave Higgins
(Chief Executive of the ODA) challenging him about
workers interviewed at the Olympic site and NOT
being paid a living wage. Action promised and later
delivered. |
| October 2007 |
Hilton Group announce a decision to phase out
the use of agencies to supply labour for their London
hotels. |
| October 2007 |
Westway, developers of the White City Shopping
Centre in West London agree to be the first living
wage retail zone in the UK. |
| November 2007 |
Living wage employer awards given to Westway,
Bioregional (South London), Barclays, Macquarie
and PWC. |
| December 2007 |
Hilton Group announce that all in-house staff
across 17 hotels will be paid a living wage in 2008. |
| December 2007 |
Activists bridge the divide between rich and poor
represented in Doris Salcedo’s installation
Shibboleth in the Turbine Hall at Tate
Modern demanding that in-house and contracted staff
get the living wage. Talks ongoing. |
| January 2008 |
Cleaners at Queen Mary, University of London move
in-house with dramatically better terms and conditions
of work. |
| April 2008 |
London Citizens’ Mayoral Assembly includes
demand for candidates to support the London living
wage: Boris Johnson agrees. |
| June 2008 |
SOAS governing body votes to pay living wage from
September 2008. Contract changed from Ocean to ISS
with union recognition for UNISON. |
| July 2008 |
Boris Johnson honours pre-election pledges and
announces new living wage figure of £7.45.
Summer Academy interns target Hyatt Andaz Hotel
(Liverpool Street) and Hilton Group, triggering
ongoing talks with both chains. |
| October 2008 |
Action outside the Departments for Work and Pensions
and Children, Families and Schools demanding they
honour a pledge on child poverty. Later secure ministerial
agreement to pay living wage to those at DCFS, including
subcontracted staff, from April 2009. |
| November 2008 |
At TELCO Assembly, directors from Olympic Delivery
Authority (ODA) announce that of 3000 workers on
the Olympic site, only 134 are not paid the living
wage. New contracts will all be living wage.
Leader of Labour Group, Tower Hamlets Council also
pledges support for the living wage. |
| December 2008 |
Protest outside Birkbeck College Governors meeting
to demand a living wage – campaign still ongoing. |
| January 2009 |
Queen Mary reports on one year of a living wage
and the impact of the move back in-house on cleaning
standards and costs, reported in ‘The business
case for the living wage: the story of the cleaning
service at Queen Mary’. |
| March 2009 |
Birkbeck Governors agree to living wage for cleaning
and catering staff (Ocean and Sodhexo). |
| March 2009 |
London Citizens and Unite the union (hotel workers’
branch) launch ‘Rooms for change: Putting
London on track for the Olympics’ to link
the hospitality sector to the pledge to create an
ethical Olympics in 2012. |
| June 2009 |
Protest outside the British Hospitality Association
lunch at Grosvenor Hotel with request to meet Bob
Cotton (Chair), supported by Mayor Boris Johnson
speaking at the event. |
| July 2009 |
Cleaning and catering staff at Birkbeck get £7.45
an hour with % in-line raises for other staff; no
sick pay agreed but union recognition. |
| July 2009 |
BBC Newsnight report on violations of the NMW
in the hotel sector – with support of LC -
documenting cases of agency workers employed by
Hotelcare Ltd and working at Ibis, Plaza and Holiday
Inn Hotels. Inland Revenue start investigation. |
| October 2009 |
Trick or Treat action outside the Treasury and
Department for Work and Pensions, Whitehall, in
support of the living wage. |
| October 2009 |
Meeting with Health and Safety Officers from Royal
Borough of Kensington and Chelsea and Westminster
Council to discuss risks faced by hotel workers. |
| November 2009 |
Linklaters announce decision to become living
wage employer.
Meeting with Low Pay Commission to look at violations
of NMW due to agency work and piece rates in the
hotel sector. Start gathering data for the HSE. |
| November 2009 |
Assembly called ‘The Citizens response to
the economic crisis,’ held at the Barbican
with a demand on the Corporation of London and City
institutions to pay a living wage. Demand on national
politicians to adopt the living wage in public procurement. |
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