Brighton SolFed today answered the call for solidarity from South London SolFed, who have been organising pickets against employment agency Office Angels over a non-payment dispute at their Wimbledon branch. Dan worked for Office Angels for three days in December of last year. He was assured by the company that the lack of a time-sheet would 'not be a problem'. However, Office Angels are refusing to pay him the wages he is owed - falsely claiming he only worked for one day, despite them having called him at work on his third day. After completely ripping him off, they had the nerve to harass him for seeking advice on an internet discussion forum.
We picketed for several hours in the afternoon and distributed several hundred leaflets, running out prematurely as we clearly underestimated demand. Whilst passers-by were happy to take leaflets, the local management were less than pleased, with one complaining about a loss of business and another attempting to debate the finer points of employment law. On that subject, one of the most basic aspects of employment law is paying your employees for the time they work.
Until Dan gets paid, we will keep on increasing the pressure we are putting on the company. We want to hear from any current or previous Office Angels employees that have come into conflict with this company and its culture of disrespect. We know that this is not an isolated incident and the more people get involved, the more pressure we can put on the company to start treating its workers properly.