DISPUTE INVOLVING CONTRACT CLEANING AND MAINTENANCE (LONDON) LTD

That this House condemns in the strongest possible terms the employment practices of the cleaning contractor employed by Sotheby's London branch, Contract Cleaning and Maintenance (London) Ltd (CCML), towards the cleaners and porters who are members of the trade union United Voices of the World (UVW) who have issued a notice of a formal trade dispute; is appalled at CCML's poor employment practices, which include the unwarranted suspension of a porter following a grievance he made about poor treatment, the refusal to stop using certain chemicals which leave cleaners with breathing difficulties, chest pains and rashes, the unwarranted deduction of wages and working hours, overworking and shouting at porters and cleaners, reprimanding a porter for using the toilet outside his official break time, threatening a cleaner with suspension for not being clean shaven, a refusal to discipline aggressive managers, a refusal to pay contractual sick pay instead of statutory sick pay, so as to relieve the cleaners and porters of the choice between working sick, or not working, and therefore falling behind on their rent or risk facing eviction, and a refusal of CCML to backdate the current London Living Wage to 1 November 2014; supports the demands of CCML employees for dignity and respect at work and for the London Living Wage to be backdated; calls on CCML to work to resolve this dispute; and urges Sotheby's to bring pressure to bear on CCML in resolving the dispute as a matter of urgency.