A cleaner is suing a city law firm that earns £46 million a year after she claims she was fired for eating a leftover sandwich.
The Ecuadorian single mother filed the claim after working for a company under contract with the corporate legal firm Devonshires in London.
She was fired shortly before Christmas, according to United Voices of the World Union representatives, who advocate for migrant workers.
Gabriela Rodriguez, 39, was said to have been fired from her £13-an-hour job for the ‘theft’ of a leftover tuna sandwich, which was due to be thrown away after a meeting.
According to the Times, the company complained to her employer, Total Clean, over the non-return of leftover sandwiches.
Then, she was fired for allegedly stealing “client property…without authority or reasonable excuse,” as she disclosed to The Sun. She is currently fighting for an unjust termination.
The United Voices of the World Union claimed in a social media campaign that the sandwich in issue, which some reports suggested had egg instead of tuna, only cost £1.50.
The union said on Facebook, ‘Quick placard and banner-making session today in preparation for our action next week in solidarity with Gabriela.
‘Gabriela is an Ecuadorian single mother who, after two years cleaning the offices of a corporate law firm, was summarily sacked just before Christmas on grounds of “theft”—the ” “theft” in question being a £1.50 Tesco tuna sandwich that she ate, which was left over from a lawyers’ meeting and was due to be discarded.
‘Sacking cleaners on ridiculous grounds like this—treating them like the dirt they clean—is not uncommon, though it is always outrageous, and in UVW we always fight back.
‘We are taking the case to court but that takes time, and justice delayed is justice denied, so in the meantime, we’ll be doing what we do best and fighting back through direct action.’
However, a spokesperson for the law firm told The Times they had not made a formal complaint and ‘expressly told’ the cleaning contractor not to take any action.
In a statement to the newspaper, Total Clean said the action they took was ‘to maintain the integrity of our workforce and service by ensuring we deal appropriately with any actions that undermine the hard work and reputation of our incredible team, who conduct themselves impeccably’.
It added: ‘Trust and honesty is of paramount importance.’
It doesn’t matter where this lady is from; the benefits are there for everyone living and working in this country. Should they be entitled is another question.
For crying out loud, it was a friggin sandwich. In any case, it was going to be discarded. Even with benefits added on, thirteen pounds an hour isn’t a large wage—even though she could have been over the eligibility threshold to get them.
It is my belief that employers ought to be held more accountable for providing their workers with a living wage. A woman who works as a cleaner does not necessarily have less value than a lawyer or barrister. This world would be in total turmoil if none of us had a crucial role to play in keeping the wheels turning.
Cleaning jobs are not beneath the general British public, but then it’s not anybody’s fault that the empire is in our blood and that we are way above the little people in this world. Don’t hate the player; hate the game.
Although her kind may not be welcomed in the UK, at least she was employed, in contrast to those sluggish losers who were born here.
THE MONTHLY MOSQUITO 