The Independent Workers Union of Great Britain (IWGB) greeted the audience arriving at the Royal College of Music on Thursday evening to hear Mozart’s 24th Piano Concerto and Richard Strauss’ An Alpine Symphony.
The IWGB handed out leaflets explaining their grievance. In a nutshell the cleaners’ hours have been cut. There were nine cleaners working a six hour night shift. Now there are eighteen cleaners working a three hour day shift. The night workers who have had their hours and pay halved have been offered alternative employment within a two mile radius of the college and more than statutory redundancy, or, if they accept the new contract a transition period where they work for three hours while being paid for six. Six of the nine cleaners have accepted the new terms.
None of this was in the IWGB leaflet that accuses the facilities management company used by the RCM of unfair dismissal and alleges that the cleaners would have to do the same work in half the time. They say that the refusal of the new terms has been “virtually unanimous”.
When I started working in the City in 1976 I had a skimpy contract and a job description: graduate trainee. When I left that company in 1992 I think I was still governed by that contract. Subsequent American employees insisted on elaborate contracts which were often amended. My colleagues used to seek legal advice but I never did. One especially contentious issue was about bonuses. The company wanted bonuses to be repaid in full if the employee left to work for a competitor.
I reasoned that it was a binary issue. Either I signed this rather unsatisfactory contract and was paid a bonus, or I did not sign and my bonus would not be paid. I thought it wise to take the former course and argue about the contract if and when a dispute arose. It didn’t.
Of course a quite well paid job in the City is very different from working a night cleaning shift but there is an underlying similarity in having to adapt to change. The clerks and floor traders working on the floors of the London futures markets no longer have jobs, except on the London Metal Exchange which has only partially migrated to electronic trading. The pub beside The International Petroleum Exchange has closed.
On the podium at the RCM was evening shift worker Bernard Haitink, showing no signs of cutting his hours or going to bed earlier at eighty-eight.
That pub was called The Mint. It only opened Mon to Fri and whilst The IPE was the other side of the road it was Fullers most profitable pub. I remember a character called John Evans getting me to snort tequila from a tablespoon one afternoon there. Fond memories…
Mary Kenny’s piece in the March edition of The Oldie may evoke memories too.
I did hear of a high-flying group of futures brokers who moved to Dublin for regulatory reasons. I’m told they got legless every night by the banks of the Liffey, which is all too tempting.
Where she got the idea that they waited until the night I cannot imagine.
I do empathize with those for whom employment circumstances are difficult, especially those who hold low paid jobs in London where the cost of living is considerably higher than the national average. However, spare a thought for the self employed: no guarantee of minimum/living wage, no employer pension, no paid holidays, no employer private health insurance or other fringe benefits, and if we have a grievance about any of this we can only protest to ourselves. This list may only deal with the negatives, but is a salutary reminder to those in employment. Professional musicians are, by and large, very poorly paid considering the considerable amount of time they have to devote to practice. A few lucky classical musicians have forged successful solo careers with the help of effective marketing and some clever PR, but the majority of musicians receive small remuneration for their efforts. Many have to hold several positions or supplement their income with teaching.