But contractor denies disciplinary action was taken against staff who wrote letter
A law firm is investigating the potential detrimental treatment of staff at a cleaning contractor working for the government after some of its employees left a letter for Secretary of State Philip Hammond asking for higher pay.
The cleaners involved were employed by contractor Interserve to work at the Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) when they sent the group letter asking Hammond to look at raising their pay to the London Living Wage (£9.15 an hour).
Those who signed the letter said they were then asked to attend an interview by their employer Interserve and three are now facing redundancy, although the FCO and Interserve said this is due to a building closure.
Paul Jennings, partner at law firm Bates Wells Braithwaite (BWB), which is acting for the cleaners, said it had served a request for information to Interserve to give the company a chance to explain its actions and redundancy criteria but added it was "difficult to conceive of a situation where this case just dissipates".
"We are still looking for an explanation from Interserve on the basis for [redundancy] selection because three that were selected were particularly active in the campaign for the living wage," Jennings said.
"The other element is looking at the detriment suffered by the group as a whole who were subjected to a disciplinary process. That has been abandoned but we still need to understand why that was implemented and why it was abandoned. The letter [to Hammond] includes concerns about their health and welfare - it is not just a plea for more money. Arguably they have raised a protected disclosure and then been subjected to detriments of various kinds," he added.
An FCO spokeswoman said: "Our contractor, Interserve, has assured us that no one has been made redundant as a result of a letter asking for an increase in pay." She added that the FCO was in the process of vacating the Old Admiralty Building, which had reduced the number of cleaning staff required.
An Interserve spokesperson said: "A letter was recently sent to the FCO, signed by a number of cleaners, regarding levels of pay. No disciplinary action has been taken against these employees and none will be. The matter was investigated, with each employee interviewed, and concluded."
Jennings said he believed there would be mounting pressure for the FCO to raise its cleaning salaries in line with other government departments, many of which are reported to already pay the living wage.
A spokesman from the Public and Commercial Services Union, which represents some of the cleaners involved, said: "Ministers and senior officials have turned a blind eye for far too long and need to take responsibility for these workers. If any company is found to have victimised staff for exercising their rights to ask for better pay and working conditions they should be stripped of their contract."
Labour’s shadow foreign secretary Hilary Benn said in a letter to Hammond: "I understand that other government departments do pay the living wage to their cleaners. Indeed your Cabinet colleague Iain Duncan Smith met with cleaners asking for the living wage and ensured they got it.
“If their colleagues elsewhere in Whitehall are now being paid the living wage then I cannot see why they should not be treated equally."