“Drop the union and you can have your face masks,” outsourced cleaning company appears to tell low-paid workers at large London academy

A cleaning company has been risking the lives of children and staff at a high-profile London academy –which is overseen by wealthy hedge fund figures - by only paying its workers statutory sick pay of less than �20 a day and until last week not giving them face masks, a union has claimed.

The warning comes with the union also pointing to recordings of conversations it says were between a company manager and one of the workers, which appear to suggest that the cleaners would have more of a chance of receiving masks if they walked away from their union.

The union now says it will take both the cleaning company and the academy itself to court, with a ballot on industrial action also looming.

The company has told this website that it had been following government guidance which states that facemasks are not recommended in schools. However, masks had been provided from “early last week”. It also said that it is supportive of union membership, and that it was paying statutory sick pay as set out by the government.

The allegations concern an outsourced contract for cleaning at Ark Globe Academy in Southwark, south London, which the union says is the main mechanism by which this large school is being kept “hygienic” for pupils and staff during the coronavirus crisis.