WORKERS at a prestigious London music school banged the drum for sick pay and pensions yesterday, bringing uproar to a graduation ceremony.

The cleaners and facilities workers at the Royal College of Music (RCM) staged a loud protest outside the school’s main entrance, with the monotonous sound of vuvuzelas leaving security on edge.

Their 3 Cosas campaign is demanding sick and holiday pay as well as a pension scheme that goes beyond the mandatory requirements.

“We work seven days a week and only have 20 days’ holiday,” supervisor Cristobal Barzallo told the Star.

“We are asking for sick pay because over here, if you become sick and you don’t work, you don’t get paid.”

Mr Barzallo, who has worked at the college for over three years, is employed by RCM’s contractor Ocean Group.

3 Cosas organisers said they had issued an email to the college and even offered to cancel the protest, but got no replies from management.

Last year cleaners at RCM fought and won their claim for the London living wage of £9.15 per hour — a 43 per cent pay rise.
Fellow cleaner Wilson Ayala joined the fight because this was a “just cause.”

He said that the pay victory was won “only through the struggle, because it wasn’t a voluntary decision by the college.”

Statutory sick pay is currently £88.45 a week if a worker is ill for more than four consecutive days and employers are not obliged to pay for individual sick days.