URGENT
Solidarity Appeal: Support the ISS Cleaning Workers on Strike in Hong Kong

Since November 21, more than 200 cleaning workers employed by ISS (HK) have been on strike. The striking workers are organised by the Hong Kong Buildings Management & Security Workers General Union, an affiliate of the Hong Kong Confederation of Trade Unions (HKCTU).

The workers, mostly women workers aged between 40 and 55, are protesting against the ISS (HK) management’s strategy of denying them severance pay.

The strike action is the first organised industrial action by cleaning workers in Hong Kong in twenty years. ISS (International Service Systems) is a global corporation headquartered in Denmark and is the largest cleaning contractor in the world. It employs 265,000 people in 36 countries around the world and is the tenth largest employer in Europe.

Background to the Strike

On November 30, 2001, the contract that ISS (HK) holds with the Mass Transit Railway (MTR) Corporation will end. As a result, 517 workers employed by ISS to clean the MTR subway stations will become redundant. According to the Hong Kong Employment Ordinance, workers employed for more than two years are entitled to severance pay. Of the 517 workers affected, 352 have been employed by ISS for more than two years and so are legally entitled to severance pay.

An exception in the Employment Ordinance allows the employer to NOT pay severance entitlements if employees are re-assigned to new positions. In the lead-up to the termination of its contract with the MTR, ISS (HK) has re-assigned 352 cleaning workers to new jobs commencing on December 1. However, ISS (HK) management has deliberately re-assigned the workers to new work locations far from their current work sites. By forcing them to commute long distances (for night shifts), workers are being put in a position of having to resign. (Since the majority of the workers are middle-aged women with families, they are under pressure to refuse the new work assignments).

The workers accused ISS (HK) of trying to force them to resign rather than dismissing them. This way the company can avoid any legal obligation to pay severance pay. After being informed of their re-assignment, the workers demanded formal dismissal and severance pay according to the law. The workers then approached the Hong Kong Buildings Management & Security Workers General Union to intervene and help them to fight for their severance pay. The total severance pay due to the workers is approximately HK$4 million (US$512,000)

At a general meeting attended by 200 workers on November 15 it was decided that a series of protest actions would be taken. After this meeting a total of 350 workers signed a petition demanding severance pay instead of re-assignment (and forced resignation). A protest and sit-in was held in the Central Mass Transit Railway (MTR) Station on the night of Sunday, November 18. ISS (HK) management was given until November 21 to respond to the workers demands, or strike action would begin.

On November 21 the company failed to respond and so the workers began their strike action, setting up a permanent picket in the Central MTR Station. (The picket continues until this day).

Workers’ Demands in Context

The importance of this severance pay for the ISS (HK) workers must be understood in the context of their extremely low wages and the absence of social welfare.

The ISS (HK) cleaning workers are paid an average monthly wage of only HK$3,000 (US$384), with some receiving as little as HK$2,800 (US$359). This is for full-time, daily shifts of 6 to 10 hours. These wages are below the average income for blue collar workers in Hong Kong, falling into the lowest income-earning group - what the Hong Kong Social Security Society classifies as "the working poor."

In Hong Kong low-waged employment (like the wage levels of cleaners employed by ISS) is the major cause of poverty, and not unemployment. This is a fact recognised by the United Nations Committee on Economic, Cultural and Social Rights in its report on Hong Kong in May 2001. The problem of the "working poor" is attributed to the fact that there is no minimum wage legislation in Hong Kong.

In addition to this, there is no pension and no unemployment insurance (or any other social welfare entitlements). This means that the lump sum severance payment is extremely important for low-waged workers. It is the nearest thing they will have to a pension.

"Because we are cleaners he treats us like garbage!" The Chief Executive Director Refused Negotiations

At 2:30pm on Friday, November 23, the workers held a protest at the ISS (HK) head office. The Chief Executive Director of ISS (HK), Gregory Rooke, refused to meet directly with the workers’ delegation and trade union representatives, even though Labour Department officials were present. He refused even to sit in the same room with them. Rooke said that his high management position meant he did not have to deal with workers. His attitude angered the workers’ representatives who said, "Because we’re cleaners he treats us like garbage!"

After more than three hours Rooke still had not sat down to begin negotiations and at 9pm announced he was leaving the office. He laughed at the protesting workers and walked to the front door waving goodbye.

The workers’ delegation blocked the doors and exits and prevented him from leaving. Rooke told the police to use the Public Order Ordinance to escort him from the building and remove the workers, but the police did not intervene. Eventually, another three hours later, well past midnight, Rooke only agreed to talk to the HKCTU Chief Executive – but not the workers. When the ISS management finally signed a letter agreeing that negotiations could be held on Monday, November 26, the workers withdrew from the ISS (HK) office.

On its website (www.iss-group.com) ISS publicises its good employment relations and labour standards. It claims to support an "open dialogue on equal terms between management and employees." It also claims that: "Our employees' freedom to organise locally and across borders is a central element of our personnel policy." ISS is also a signatory to the United Nations Global Compact on human rights, which it signed in 1999.

The refusal of the ISS (HK) Chief Executive Director to even speak to the workers for the nine hours they were in the ISS office, and his outright rejection of any negotiations whatsoever clearly demonstrates that ISS’s claim to "open dialogue on equal terms between management and employees" is false.

On November 26, the workers’ delegates, trade union representatives and 100 workers went to ISS (HK) office for the promised negotiations at 2:30pm However, ISS had arranged for building security to prevent the workers from entering the building – only 20 were allowed inside. The delegation included HKCTU General Secretary, Lee Cheuk Yan and HKCTU Chief Executive, Elizabeth Tang. The other workers remained outside the building surrounded by security guards and police.

After 5 hours of talks the ISS management still refused to consider the workers’ demands. There was no result from these talks. The workers’ delegation remains inside the lobby of the building and the workers are holding a vigil outside.

ISS (HK)’s Claims

Despite the claim by the ISS (HK) Human Resources manager that the re-assignment of workers is not intended to force workers to resign, only those workers entitled to severance pay were reassigned to new locations in far way areas. The management claimed that all of he workers affected by the end of the MTR contract will continue to have jobs. Yet only the 352 workers legally entitled to severance pay were reassigned. The other 165 workers not entitled to severance pay (employed for less than 2 years) were not re-assigned and they do not know what will happen to them after November 30.

Although the management says that the re-assignment is for the workers' long-term benefit, the company does not have openings in the locations workers are being sent to. According to data obtained by the union, among 150 workers more than 40 workers will be sent to Western Kowloon Centre to work. But only 8 workers are employed there now. Another 20 workers have been re-assigned to the Mong Kok Kowloon Railway (KCR) Station, but only 4 cleaners are employed there. It appears then that the company does not really have job vacancies, and the re-assignments were made knowing that the workers would be forced to resign because of excessive travel and inappropriate hours.

Another concern is that workers will be re-assigned to new work locations where workers already employed there with less than 2 years employment will be fired. According to workers who have worked at ISS (HK) for more than 10 years, they have never known anyone to reach 60 and retire with severance pay. Instead, their co-workers were forced to resign before they reached 60.

The company claims that if it agrees with the union's demands and pays the workers severance pay, then it will raise the company's operating costs. These costs will be passed on to the company’s clients. The ISS (HK) Chief Executive Director, Gregory Rooke, added that the company does not include the cost of compensation (such as severance pay) for the workers in its annual operating budget.

The union responded that the company should have included annual compensation in its projected operating costs, including retirement costs. More importantly, claims that no measures were taken to consider severance pay for any of its 7000 workers suggest that the company cannot be "socially responsible" as it claims to be.

The notion of having to shift costs to its clients is also questionable. Under its contract with the MTR, the MTR pays on average HK$8,000 for each worker employed to clean, but ISS (HK) only pays the workers HK$3,000. There is clearly enough of a margin here to cover severance pay and other compensation.

The Campaign Continues

The overnight vigil at the ISS (HK) office is continuing and the picket at the Central MTR Station will be resumed. These actions are supported by HKCTU affiliates, community and social organisations. In addition to this, workers' representatives will be accompanied by HKCTU General Secretary, Lee Cheuk-yan, in traveling to Denmark and holding protest actions outside ISS headquarters in Copenhagen.

In support of the striking workers at ISS (HK) we request that letters of protest be sent to:

Eric Rylberg, CEO
Martin Christensen, Vice President Human Resources
Jan Vistisen, Managing Director International, Overseas
ISS A./S
Bredgade 30
DK-1260 Copenhagen K
Denmark
Fax: +45 38 17 00 11

Gregory Rooke
Chief Executive Director
ISS Servisystem (HK) Ltd
9/F Stelux House
698 Prince Edward Road East
San Po Kong, Kowloon
Fax: +852 2621 5260

Please send copies and letters of solidarity to:

Hong Kong Buildings Management & Security Workers General Union
HKCTU
19/F Wing Wong Commercial Building
557-559 Nathan Road
Yau Ma Tei, Kowloon
Hong Kong
Fax: +852 2770 7388
Email: hkctu@hkctu.org.hk

In solidarity,
Elizabeth Tang
Chief Executive
Hong Kong Confederation of Trade Unions (HKCTU) November 26, 2001 10pm

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