A trade union has launched a petition to support migrant kitchen porters who say they were suspended after campaigning for the London living wage at a private members’ club owned by a backer of Boris Johnson.
Protests have taken place outside the Mayfair club known as 5 Hertford Street, owned by the millionaire Brexiter Robin Birley, after the suspension of workers who were recently outsourced to ACT Clean, a cleaning company.
Kitchen porters at the club were said to have been paid £8.65 per hour before the launch of a campaign by the Independent Workers Union of Great Britain (IWGB), and pay was increased to £9 per hour after pressure.
However, one worker was suspended at the end of July and seven others were suspended later, according to the union, which has recently begun to represent people in sectors that have traditionally not had trade union representation.
The union launched a petition accusing the cleaning company of victimising workers and suspending them on trumped-up charges while denying them occupational sick pay.
Addressed to Birley and John Stevenson, the chief executive of ACT Clean, the petition calls for the workers to be guaranteed the London living wage of £10.55 per hour and for an end to the outsourcing of kitchen porters.
Birley, a property developer and long-time Brexit supporter who previously donated to Ukip under Nigel Farage, donated at least £20,000 to Johnson before his victory in the Tory leadership race.
Described by Vogue as “the loveliest club in London”, 5 Hertford St is frequented by members of the royal family, Hollywood celebrities and others.
Henry Chango Lopez, the IWGB president, said: “The 5 Hertford Street kitchen porters had a very simple and fair demand: to not be treated like the dirty dishes they clean. Management’s response has been to intimidate workers with suspensions on absurd grounds.
“If Robin Birley can had over £250,000 to Ukip and Boris Johnson, he can pay his workers a living wage. We demand an end to all victimisation and that these workers be employed on fair terms and conditions.”
ACT Clean and 5 Hertford St have been approached for comment.
