Cleaners at the Old Bailey

CAIWU Escalates Strike Action to Full Week in Response to Outsourcing Betrayal

MARCH 24,2025

Cleaners at the Old Bailey, represented by the Cleaners and Allied Independent Workers Union (CAIWU), are escalating their fight against the City of London Corporation’s outsourcing plans by launching a full week of strike action from March 24th to March 28th. This marks a significant intensification of their protest, following an initial one-day strike on 7th March 2025 – supported by the RMT Union, PCS Union and General Federation of Trade Unions – as workers refuse to stand by while their rights and livelihoods are threatened.

The Corporation’s decision to outsource cleaning staff at the Central Criminal Court represents a serious betrayal of public sector workers and flies in the face of the Labour government’s promises to end exploitative outsourcing practices. Rather than delivering on insourcing commitments, this move deepens the divide between directly employed workers and those subjected to insecure, low-paid contract work with fewer protections.

“Outsourcing drives down wages, increases workloads, and strips away essential rights,” said a CAIWU spokesperson. “Our members have had no say in this decision, yet they are the ones who will bear the consequences. After being ignored and left in uncertainty, they are taking a stand. This isn’t just about jobs—it’s about dignity, fairness, and holding those in power accountable.”

CAIWU is calling on the City of London Corporation to immediately reverse its outsourcing plans and ensure that all its workers, including cleaners—who are among the most diverse and vulnerable members of the workforce—are treated with the respect they deserve. With no meaningful response from the Corporation, CAIWU members are left with no alternative but to escalate their industrial action. Their determination has only grown stronger, and they are prepared to fight for the entire week to defend their jobs, working conditions, and future security.

Of the dispute, Gawain Little, General Secretary of the General Federation of Trade Unions said: ‘Why do we stand with you? Because your cause is just. Ending outsourcing could be one of the biggest moves we could make in this country to tackle structural inequality in our workplaces. It would be one of the biggest moves to strengthen workers’ rights, and it would be one of the biggest moves to improve the lives of predominantly women workers, black workers and migrant workers.’   

A CAIWU member commented: ‘Privatisation doesn’t work financially or morally. Our feelings do not come into privatisation. They just do not care about any of us. Personally, I am so upset. But I’m speaking for each and every one of us: we’re so angry, upset and downtrodden. They should stop this privatisation and stop it before it rots everywhere else.”

Another said: “‘I’ve been working for the corporation for 27 years and we all work here as a family. But now what is the Corporation doing to us? We’re not happy. That’s why we’re all standing here today. We have to fight for our rights. Some of us have been working here for 32 years. The pressure is too high, there’s nothing we can do but strike, so that they hear our voices.

“We all have family to look after, we’re all from different countries and we have to work hard for our families back home. The Corporation has let us down. If these people take over we are nothing, we’ve already seen some examples. They are bullying us in the way they’re talking to us. And our manager said it’s already decided: whether we say yes or not. If we say no, we’ll be kicked out. So there’s nothing we can do. We have to say yes and then go home and cry inside. They don’t respect us or what we have done for the corporation.”

CAIWU is calling for supporters to join their picket between 8:00 and16:00 each day from 24th-28th March at the Old Bailey Central Criminal Court, EC4M 7EH. They are also looking for support in donations to the cleaners’ strike fund, here.

The timeline of events is as follows:

• 22nd January 2025, Old Bailey Cleaners received a letter from OCS Commercial Cleaning Services informing them of the initiation of a TUPE Transfer to be completed by 1st March 2025. They were told that they had the choice to either sign the new contracts or to leave their jobs. Several of our members took early retirement in response to the plans, missing out on 7 years of pension contributions.

• Cleaners were not informed or consulted about the transfer beforehand. On 22nd January, CAIWU responded raising concerns about the lack of consultation time built into the process.

• 2nd February 2025: due to lack of adequate response from the City of London Corporation, CAIWU gave notice of a strike ballot, opening 14/02/2025.

• 20th February 2025: CAIWU ballot closed with an 86% voter turnout and 100% yes vote. We informed the Corporation of intended strike action on 7th March 2025.

• 24th February 2025: the City of London Corporation informed us that the TUPE transfer had been postponed until April 2, 2025.

• 7th March 2025: 21 members took strike action.

• 10th March 2025: CAIWU issued the City of London with notice for another strike from 24-28th March, concerning the same 21 members.

CAIWU was founded in 2016 and is an independent workers union designed to help organise cleaners across the UK. CAIWU is run by and for its members. CAIWU has waged several high-profile campaigns at the Royal Opera House, University of East London, Facebook, Nike Town, the British Medical Association, and the Ministry of Defence, and continues to campaign for improved pay and working conditions across its organised workplaces.

Image: c/o CAIWU.