I’ve worked as an attendant at the Kensington Garden Royal Park for 9 years. The parks are owned by the incredible wealth of the Crown, and yet we are paid the minimum wage, made to feel unsafe at work, we get no sick pay and are denied our legal right to annual leave. 

We’ve asked for this unlawful and unjust state of affairs to be fixed but we have been completely ignored. That’s why I’m joining my fellow workers to go on strike. Striking is a huge step for us. It is not something we are doing lightly. But it’s the last resort we have to try to get treated as human beings at work, to get paid the real living wage of £10.55 per hour, and have our legal rights respected. 

I often hear people say ”you’re working for the royals you must be paid quite well?”. Let me tell you what it’s really like to work at the Royal Parks:

We are employed through a contractor called Vinci Facilities which makes £100s millions. Yet we are paid the legal minimum of £8.21 per hour and are treated poorly. 

We are often dismissively referred to as “cleaners” - but we play a vital role in the maintenance and operation of the parks. We have to do first aid, we lock up the toilets and playgrounds and we often face abuse when we are trying to get members of the public to leave when they don’t want to. 

In instances of abuse we have never felt that Vinci or the Parks supports us, which is demoralising and makes us fear for our safety. We’ve asked for someone from Vinci to be present with us when we’re closing up so they can see the abuse that we often face - but surprise, surprise they have never taken us up on this. 

They see us as a cheap, expendable labour source.

We are just a few dozen workers trying to get one of the richest estates in the country to pay us a fair wage. But we need your help and support to do it. Please sign my petition for Royal Parks workers to get a fair wage.