Cleaners want to sweep out low pay at tax office

Cleaners in HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) offices in Merseyside are set to escalate their pay fight with three days of strikes next week.

The members of the PCS union plan to strike next Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday against cuts to their working hours. This follows a two-day strike in July.

Bosses at outsourcer ISS cut the cleaners’ hours in response to the minimum wage being increased to the Tories’ “living wage” rate of £7.20 an hour.

This is the fourth time ISS have cut hours.

It means some cleaners cannot claim Working Families Tax Credit because they are no longer working at least 30 hours a week.

Security guards working at Met Police offices have voted to strike over pay.

The PCS union members are employed by outsourcer Engie, which provides security at central communications command centres where emergency calls are handled.

The strike vote comes after Engie offered a 1.6 percent pay offer.

Years of low offers mean that some workers will have seen a pay increase of just £1.09 an hour in nine years.