A UNION took aim at the Labour government for pledging to strengthen workers’ rights while it subjects cleaners in its own Parliament to outsourced contracts under precarious conditions. 

Up to a quarter of cleaners at the Houses of Parliament face losing their jobs, the Cleaners and Allied Independent Workers Union (CAIWU) has revealed .

It reported that The Churchill Group, the outsourced company that was awarded Westminster’s cleaning contract in May, is planning to cut staffing by 30 to 50 people.

Members of CAIWU say they have faced chaos and uncertainty since the contract was awarded, and that they have been left feeling “segregated.”

The staff anonymously told the union that they want to be treated the same as all other workers in Parliament.

They said that right now they do not get sick pay, holiday pay, nor extra for overtime, night and weekend shifts — on top of being threatened with cuts.

A statement from CAIWU members said: “Why are they distressing all of us and putting this threat of uncertainty?

“This company arrived two months ago, we didn’t ask for this change. And we have been working here for 18, 20, 30 years.”

While Labour pushes its New Deal for Working People, the union asked: “If Keir Starmer and the incumbent Labour Party can’t even ensure the fair and equal treatment of those in their own house, what does it say about the future of workers across the country?” 

The Churchill Group also lies at the heart of another dispute with CAIWU after it attempted to implement cuts of up to 50 per cent at the London offices of tech giant Meta.

Since initiating the dispute, the union says five of its most vocal members have been made redundant on spurious grounds.

A CAIWU spokesperson said: “At Meta our members have been subject to mass redundancies and trade union victimisation. 

“We were shocked to discover that the same unscrupulous employer is contracted to service the highest law in the land — The Houses of Parliament — but less surprised to hear our members’ experiences of them are much the same as everywhere else. 

“We demand that Keir Starmer put his money where his mouth is and bring cleaners in-house now.”

The Churchill Group has been contacted for comment.