Unite the union has said that it is officially in dispute with Britannia Premium Cleaning as from tomorrow Thursday 2nd December. The union says it would appreciate the public’s “patience and understanding” with its members.  

A spokesperson said:

“The dispute is due to the following:

“A two tier workforce has been created by Britannia Premium Cleaning Management, discriminating against one group of employees and going against what is stipulated in the Gibraltar Employment Act.  This in turn has left Unite with no choice but to table a pay claim in this respect.  

“Unite stands by its discriminatory claim, as the mere fact that Management has now placed a number of men to undertake the estate block cleaning and a number of women to undertake the exterior cleaning, does not mean that our member’s claim of discrimination against a group of workers is invalid. The fact remains that there is still an equal work for equal pay claim that needs to be addressed. 

“Despite numerous attempts by our Union to engage with the company they have opted to ignore our requests.  This has left Unite with no option but to engage with/include their client in our requests. 

“Given the above, our membership will be taking action imminently.  It is important to highlight that Unite the Union takes very seriously and will not allow any form of intimidation, bullying or victimisation as reprisal towards any of our members because of their taking industrial action.  Any reports of this occurring will call for an escalation.

“These individuals might be known to you all as they work throughout government estates and therefore we hope you sympathise with their justified claim, as these members of our community are asking for decent wages, equality and fair treatment.”