CLEANERS whose jobs were privatised at HM Revenue & Customs on Merseyside are on strike for a week over pay.

The cleaners, who are members of the Public and Commercial Services union (PCS), were outsourced to contractor ISS.

They have asked the company, which has profits in excess of £200 million, to pay them £10 an hour. They also want holiday entitlements and full sick pay from day one of employment.

The strike, which began on Monday and runs until Friday, is the second in the cleaners’ campaign for better pay.

PCS general secretary Mark Serwotka said: “Our members are taking on a belligerent multimillion-pound contractor who refuses to pay the living wage.

“With ISS making outlandish profits they can easily afford to pay people who keep HMRC offices in Liverpool clean £10 an hour.

“Ministers in HMRC need to step in and take all contracted-out staff back in house and give them Civil Service terms and conditions.”