On Tuesday 21st February, the Cleaners and Allied Independent Workers Union’s (CAIWU) President, Luis Valencia Maffei, begins his final hearing at the Employment Tribunal against Regent Office Care Limited, his ex-employer.

Cleaner takes ex-employer to the Employment Tribunal for trade union detriment and unfair dismissal

On Tuesday 21st February, the Cleaners and Allied Independent Workers Union’s (CAIWU) President, Luis Valencia Maffei, begins his final hearing at the Employment Tribunal against Regent Office Care Limited, his ex-employer.

For three years between 2018 and 2021, Mr Maffei was employed by Regent Office Care to clean the well-known Broadgate Estate, famous for being home to some of the largest financial institutions in the City of London. With CAIWU’s support, Mr Maffei is bringing a claim for unfair dismissal and detrimental treatment for his trade union activities alongside fellow trade union representative, Mr Ulices Lopez Saquisili.

Until his redundancy in April 2021, Mr Maffei was an active unioniser in his workplace. He campaigned for Regent Office Care to provide the correct PPE to its employees and to improve working conditions. Mr Maffei asked for cold-weather equipment for cleaners working outside and for the correct equipment to ensure the site could be kept clean and safe. In 2019, Mr Maffei also appeared in the Channel 4 documentary ‘Boom, Bust and Bankers’ in which the disparity between cleaners and bankers working at the Broadgate estate was highlighted. That the treatment of Mr Maffei and others has not improved four years on is both shocking and disappointing.

Throughout his employment, Mr Maffei was treated detrimentally by employees of Regent Office Care due to his affiliations with CAIWU. He endured shocking treatment, including but not limited to:
• Being told managers “do not like trade union people”;
• Being subject to vexatious disciplinaries;
• Being subject to racist abuse;
• Being forced to use separate toilets from other staff members;
• Being followed around the Broadgate Estate by supervisors;
• Having health and safety issues relating to Covid-19 ignored;
• Being told that Regent Office Care wanted to get rid of him and Mr Saquisili for “trade union troublemaking”; and
• Having grievances he raised about this detrimental treatment ignored.

In late 2019 Regent Office Care began a redundancy process. Throughout this process Mr Maffei and Mr Saquisili were unfairly targeted so Regent Office Care could dismiss them. Redundancy criteria were manipulated so that Mr Maffei and Mr Saqusili were included in the redundancy pool. Meanwhile, Regent Office Care had decided to hire new staff at the same time.

Regent Office Care have refused to take any responsibility for the acts of their employees. This is yet another example of service staff who are vital to the running of the City being exploited. Cleaners seeking to improve their own position are victimised and dismissed. Companies such as Regent Office Care want to continue exploiting cleaners, resisting any improvement in their conditions. Mr Maffei’s case is yet another example of how companies seek to outsource their ethical obligations to exploitative contractors.

Mr Maffei’s case is due to be heard by London Central Employment Tribunal by video hearing. Press wishing to attend should contact the Central London Employment Tribunal Team, citing the case number 2206741/2021. The claim is due to be heard from 21st-28th February.

Alberto Durango, CAIWU’s General Secretary stated:

“Sadly, this is a familiar situation to us. It’s a blatant and classic tactic to intimidate other workers by making a brutal example of a trade union leader. Our members who still work at the Broadgate Estate do so under the cloud of Mr Maffei’s dismissal, scared to try and improve their own conditions.

This is another example of hard-working cleaners seeking a fair deal at work, and for their employer to comply with their legal obligations being bullied and mistreated. At the same time, they are surrounded by the wealthy and powerful who do not care about the working conditions or rights of the cleaners working in the same offices as them.”

ENDS

Contact Henry Tufnell, on 07927 451462. Email: communications@caiwu.org.uk. Twitter: @caiwuunion. Web: caiwu.org.uk

CAIWU is the union for cleaners in the United Kingdom. The general secretary is Alberto Durango.