Office Angels

Today, the 11th of May, three London locations of Office Angels had the the pleasure of a visit by members of South & North London Solidarity Federation along with other organisational support. The pickets were part of the week-long national campaign being orchestrated by the Solidarity Federation in support of Dan, a worker who's been cheated by the Office Angels employment agency.

First up was ADECCO, Office Angel's mother company, on London Bridge. The manager was none too happy with our picket and came on a few occasions to address us in a fury.  On one of those occasions, he began throwing down placards that we had placed on his beloved private property. Another unhappy customer was a 72-year-old antagonistic Thatcherite who couldn’t comprehend the idea that individuals would give freely their time to show solidarity and support workers’ in struggle. (No surprise there, then).

Bristol Solidarity Federation, with support from Bristol Anarchist Federation and Bristol IWW members, picketed Office Angels calling for the non-payment of wages to London temp, Dan.

The picket was surprised to find the local police had sent in advance two Community Support Officers. Why it was felt that the branch needed protecting was not explained to the picket.  A delegation were stopped from delivering a demand letter personally to the branch manager. Instead the police took this letter and a leaflet into the branch. The picket were forbidden from entering into any dialogue with staff from Office Angels.

Petty intimidation will not stop this campaign. The campaign for justice and payment in full for work done for Office Angels.

On the 11/05/11 West Yorkshire Solidarity Federation picketed the Leeds branch of Office Angels. We were joined by Leeds AF. Office Angels locked there doors (maybe thinking we where planning to storm the office) but didn't come out to see what we were doing. We gave out 300 leaflets, getting a good response. Some people came over... to ask for leaflets and at one point the whole of a bus queue outside of Office Angels where reading the leaflet.

Today, the 11th of May, three London locations of Office Angels had the the pleasure of a visit by members of South & North London Solidarity Federation along with other organisational support. The pickets were part of the week-long national campaign being orchestrated by the Solidarity Federation in support of Dan, a worker who's been cheated by the Office Angels employment agency.

First up was ADECCO, Office Angel's mother company, on London Bridge. The manager was none too happy with our picket and came on a few occasions to address us in a fury.  On one of those occasions, he began throwing down placards that we had placed on his beloved private property. Another unhappy customer was a 72-year-old antagonistic Thatcherite who couldn’t comprehend the idea that individuals would give freely their time to show solidarity and support workers’ in struggle. (No surprise there, then).

As part of a national week of action against the Office Angels agency in a dispute over unpaid wages, members and supporters of Brighton SolFed today picketed the Brighton branch for the third time in a week. Management locked the doors, and when a passing member of the public went in to ask why they didn't pay their staff, they could only desparately claim we were "liars". The passer-by sharply pointed out we wouldn't be giving up our time to picket for the fun of it! And pickets will keep spreading until Dan gets paid.

We also had some good conversations with other passers-by, many of whom worked through agencies or had friends who did. The more we talk to people, the less Dan's case seems like a one-off. If you've been mistreated by Office Angels, please get in touch.

Bristol solidarity Federation will be continuing with their support of the Office Angels temp who has never been payed in full for the three days work he did last year.

As part of the national week of action called by SF-IWA we are planning a picket of the Office Angels branch, 35-38 High Street, Bristol. This will commence at 11.00am on Thursday, 12th May. We urge anyone free to come down and support this campaign. Members of Bristol SF have been involved in the struggle against the casualisation of work for many years. This initiative is part of on-going work to ensure that workers are not robbed of their pay, their rights and their safety.

We demand that Dan is paid in full for the work he has done.

Since March the Solidarity Federation (SF) has been involved in supporting a victimised former Office Angels temporary worker. 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.

So far we have held pickets in London and across the country, as Office Angels have still not paid Dan the wages he is owed we are now calling for a national week of action against Office Angels branches from Monday 9 May till Sunday 15 May. We are also asking for people to make solidarity calls and emails to the branch he had been working for on Wednesday 11 May. Office Angels is a subsidiary of Adecco so we are asking for Adecco branches to be targeted as well.

We picketed the Brighton branch of Office Angels for the second time in 24 hours this morning to keep the pressure up in the dispute over unpaid wages. After running out of leaflets yesterday we printed another batch overnight to inform passers by and potential Office Angels workers of the details of the dispute, and to encourage them to get in touch if they've also been mistreated by Office Angels.

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.

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.

Members of Northampton Solidarity Federation today picketed the local office of Office Angels in connection with the current dispute over non payment of wages.

We talked to many passers by about the bad practice and heard several stories of mistreatment at the hands of employment agencies, particularly of underpayment and summary dismissals. One worker in particular related instances where she had worked for long periods of time for agencies only to be laid off for one day's illness.

The office manager came out to see us on two occasions, the first time to ask why we were there and to ask us to remove our flag which was draped over their standing display board (which we taped to their noticeboard instead). On reading the leaflet we were distributing she insisted, not surprisingly, that they always paid their workers. We responded that if that were so, we looked forward to hearing that the person whose non payment triggered this dispute had been paid...