A protest in front of Downing Street will take place on Friday amid growing anger over revelations in the partygate report on how cleaners and security guards are treated.
Sue Gray said in her report that she had learned of many examples of “unacceptable” treatment of security and cleaning personnel during her investigation.
She wrote: “I found that some employees witnessed or were subjected to behavior at work that they felt worried about, but sometimes felt incapable of educating properly.
“I was aware of many examples of lack of respect and mistreatment of security and cleaning staff. That was unacceptable. “
Staff members “drank excessively” at a Downing Street Christmas party on December 18, 2020, and a cleaner found red wine spilled on one wall the next morning, the report said.
Rishi Sunak told ITV News that he was “shocked and horrified” to read about the treatment of staff and said “this behavior is not acceptable” – but declined to comment on whether they are being paid fairly.
“As someone who lives on Downing Street, I know a lot of these people, they do a great job and they are great with my children, so I am very sad to hear about what happened,” he added.
Chancellor does not comment on whether Downing Street cleaning and security officials get a “fair deal”
Asked if such workers get a “fair deal”, he replied: “It would not be my special responsibility to know about their terms and conditions.”
But that he “likes to think that this government has introduced a lot of measures” to ensure that “people get paid fairly.”
The United Voices of the World (UVW), an alliance that represents cleaners and security guards in government buildings, convened a protest in front of Downing Street.
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The union said it was protesting against a culture of disrespect for low-paid workers, such as cleaners and security guards, in government buildings and offices across London.
Petros Elijah, UVW’s secretary general, said: “We are not at all surprised by the revelations in Sue Gray’s report. We have thousands of members working as cleaners and security guards, and these workers face daily disrespect and discrimination in offices and government buildings in London, not just on Downing Street.
“It’s outrageous to have violent and illegal parties during a pandemic, but then expecting cleaners to wipe after you and pay them, as well as porters and security guards, poor salaries and denying them full sick leave is disgusting.
“Most of the cleaners and security guards there are ethnic minority workers, blacks, browns and migrants who are disproportionately affected by poor working conditions and racial inequalities.
“We represent cleaners in the Ministry of Justice (MoJ) who had to quit their jobs during the pandemic because they were not provided with adequate PPE and were denied full payment for illness, which they eventually won for absences from Covid-19.
“One of our members, who worked as a janitor in the Ministry of Justice, tragically died from a premature and preventable death. That’s how far the levels of disrespect and harassment have reached and to the low-paid workers. “
Boris Johnson picks up what looks like a beer on his birthday – in a photo published in Sue Gray’s report. Credit: Sue Gray / PA report
A leading cleaning industry official calls for a meeting with the Cabinet Secretary on how to treat cleaning staff at 10 Downing Street.
Jim Melvin, chairman of the British Cleaning Council, said he was “horrified and upset” by the revelations in Sue Gray’s report.
Mr Melvin wrote to Cabinet Secretary Simon Case, saying: “At a time when many cleaning and hygiene workers, probably as front-line workers, were at direct risk to maintain high standards of hygiene and ensure that key workers and the public were kept as safe as possible during the pandemic, it is absolutely appalling and disturbing to hear that they are treated with such contempt by people who can sit in government or in the civil service and who honestly said they need to know better.
“Our position is that cleaning and hygiene workers are hardworking, professional and deserve to be respected in their vital work, like everyone else, and certainly how the people concerned would expect to be treated.
“For further clarification and information, in some parts of the cleaning industry, the demand for increased hygiene standards during the pandemic is combined with a serious shortage of staff to bring many colleagues close to the breaking point.
“What the cleaning staff needs is support and recognition from the government and the civil service, not to be treated with any level of disrespect.”
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