Cleaners at a £17,000 per year London private school have voted to walkout over ‘poverty wages’ and a lack of sick pay.

Workers at Blackheath Prep in Blackheath, South East London are demanding contractor Westgate Cleaning Services increase their pay to the London Living Wage of £13.15 per hour.

The cleaners claim their current wage of £11.44 per hour makes it difficult for them to put food on the table for their families and say they end up working while ill due to the lack of sick pay.

Their trade union United Voices of the World (UVW) contacted Westgate Cleaning Services and Blackheath Prep in March demanding all cleaners be paid the London Living Wage, be given sick leave and a paid 30-minute lunch break for shifts of six hours or more.

They also asked for all cleaners to be given the same contracts regardless of their start date. UVW claim that at present new cleaners are being offered worse terms and conditions when they join.

According to UVW the contractor and school repeatedly refused to agree to the demands, which resulted in cleaners instructing the union to ballot for strike action.

The results returned on Wednesday (May 8) showed a 100 per cent ‘yes’ vote for strike action among cleaners.

Santa Pérez, a Dominican cleaner at Blackheath Prep, said: “We are going to strike because we need a pay rise.

"As a single mum with four small kids, I find it near impossible to make ends meet on such a low salary.

"We’ve been asking for the London Living Wage for some time now, but it’s been denied to us. So the time has come to do something about it.”

Judit Morales, an Ecuadorian cleaner at the school, said: “We end up working while sick because we don’t get paid if we need to take time off.

"Migrant cleaners face exploitation because we don’t know our rights or speak English fluently. Voting to go on strike wasn’t an easy choice, but change is overdue”

Petros Elia, UVW general secretary, said: “Blackheath [Prep] are morally obliged to meet our members’ demands and they can more than afford to do so. If they don’t, the UVW will support them to strike for as long as is necessary.

“Blackheath’s decision to outsource their cleaners and only provide their contractor with enough money to pay them poverty wages is reprehensible and we will hold them to account and ensure they do right by our members”

A spokesperson for the school said: “We know Westgate Cleaning is working hard to resolve these matters, with negotiations continuing later this week which we very much welcome. We will work constructively with all parties to find a resolution as quickly as possible which will benefit the cleaners at the school.”

Westgate Cleaning Services said: “We are in active discussions with our cleaning team at Blackheath and representatives of the school. The work our cleaning team carries out is highly valued and we are working hard to reach an agreement about their pay, terms and conditions, with negotiations continuing later this week. We are optimistic we can reach [an] agreement.”