CLEANERS at La Retraite Roman Catholic Girls’ School in south London were celebrating today after they won their battle for trade union recognition.

The outsourced cleaners, the majority of whom are Latin American migrants, went on strike for several days in March in a dispute over what they described as “wage theft, “trade union victimisation” and “inadequate health and safety procedures” including a lack of full sick pay.

The strike saw the cleaners win a 24 per cent pay rise, parity in sick pay with in-house staff, improved health and safety procedures and the majority recovery of their stolen wages.