OUTSOURCED government workers on an indefinite strike over pay were joined by workers from two other departments on a demonstration in central London yesterday.

Several hundred cleaners and caterers who work at the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS) marched from the BEIS offices to HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC).

The workers at BEIS, who are directly employed by agencies ISS and Aramark, are on strike in demand of the London living wage of £10.55 an hour.

From Monday until next Friday, they will also be joined on strike by security guards, porters and postal room staff.

There were also workers from the Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) and HMRC workers from Bootle, Merseyside, who are also taking strike action for issues relating to pay justice and workplace equality.

A BEIS worker who did not want to be named told the Star: “I believe in the strike because you get my colleagues having medical operations to save their lives not getting any sick pay for when they are off work in recovery.

“How can you really recover when you’re sick if you’re worried about not being able to pay the rent, and you might think that there may not be a job to go back to?

“Also, I have been once told that I will not be paid if I take half a day off to attend a hospital appointment. Is this fair?

“This is about morale in the workplace and our well-being — these are things that we can’t be expected to have at BEIS unless things change, so we have to make them change.”

PCS general secretary Mark Serwotka said of the workers: “For them to have no other choice but to take indefinite strike action is a testament to their dogged determination to win.

“PCS is supporting them all the way in their fight for the London living wage and I call upon the entire trade union movement to get behind our members.

“I urge BEIS to take control of this situation, put pressure on the contractors to pay up and ultimately bring all of these staff back in-house.”