Games cleaners to live in prison camp conditions, pay for it

[fgalkin]

Linky

London 2012 Olympics: Games cleaners 'forced to share shower with 75 others in prison camp conditions'
Hundreds of cleaners drafted in to work over the London Olympics are being forced to sleep and wash in overcrowded, squalid conditions, according to claims made in a newspaper investigation.

The workers – many of them flown in from abroad, despite Locog’s promise that many of the jobs would go to locals – have been housed on a camp site in Newham, east London, away from public view, reports the Daily Mail.

They will allegedly be forced to sleep in portable cabins which have been left damp thanks to the wet summer weather during the Olympics.

Indeed the site has been flooded and stagnant water lies on the ground, meaning the workers have had to resort to using old crates as makeshift ‘stepping stones’ to navigate through the camp site, it has been claimed.

Additionally the workers will apparentlyl bed down in dormitories for 10 and share lavatories with 25 people – and a shower with a staggering 75 others.

The Daily Mail article reports that when the workers arrived they were horrified to be told that there would be no work for them in the first fortnight, and that they were forced to pay the cleaning company £18 every day – £550 a month – for the accommodation in the crowded cabins.



Andrea Murnoz, a 21-year-old student from Madrid, described the conditions as being like “a prison camp” and told the newspaper: “I couldn’t believe it when I saw the places people were sleeping.

“I was thinking I would apply for a job, but I have changed my mind. My two friends signed up, but I think they are regretting it.

“When I first saw the metal gates and the tall tower in the middle, it reminded me of a prison camp. It looks horrible.”

Now the workers have been made to agree not to discuss the conditions with the press and their family and friends have been barred from visiting them, officially “for security reasons”.

Locog backed the plans despite environmental health officers warning that the bathroom facilities were "unlikely to be adequate" and architects feared that the sleeping arrangements would be "cramped" – accommodation which has more than two adults per room is considered "overcrowded" under housing laws.

Craig Lovett, of Spotless International Services which runs the camp, insisted that the number of lavatories and showers per person exceeded requirements for temporary accommodation. He pointed out, too, that internet, medical and entertainment facilities were provided on-site, and that shift patterns would ease pressure.

He told the Daily Mail: "This is not a prison. Nobody is forced to stay there. Many of our staff have come from areas where there is extremely high unemployment and are very happy to be working in the Games.

"There will always be a couple of disgruntled people on site, but it’s a shame they didn’t come to talk to us to air their grievances because there are certainly processes in place for them to do that."

A Locog spokesman added: "Cleanevent [part of Spotless] have assured us that the accommodation they are providing their workers is of a suitable standard."

Have a very nice day.
-fgalkin

[JME2]

He told the Daily Mail: "This is not a prison. Nobody is forced to stay there. Many of our staff have come from areas where there is extremely high unemployment and are very happy to be working in the Games.

Love the implication that they should be grateful to have a job. Really fucking classy.

[Zaune]

I'm starting to see why the government's bringing so much firepower into London for the games. It's not terrorists they're worried about, it's the people doing all the work!

[Simon_Jester]

Hm. This is a bit alarmist, more a rhetorical thing than anything else, but... let's think about it for a moment.

The Olympics is a chance for the host country to show itself off. China showed off their ability to produce modern infrastructure on demand in a great world city. When America hosts the games, huge expressions of national pride come with the territory. We can keep going back, and back... if you go back far enough, you even see very disturbing societies trying to do this. The Germans took the 1936 Olympics as an opportunity to show off the new National Socialist superman, and the totalitarian grandeur of their new state.

What the Olympics looks like in your country is an expression of how your government thinks your country ought to be. In China, that means stopping all cars with odd-numbered license plates from driving on alternate days, to cut down the choking cloud of smog that shrouds your capital- because now the foreigners are watching. In America, that means lots and lots of flagwaving.

In Britain c. 2012, it means bowing and scraping to get corporate concessions, rooftop military garrisons on a scale not seen since the Blitz, the common laborers reduced to Third World migrant standards of privation and invisibility, two mutant mascots in every store, and a CCTV camera in every garage.

This, the Government tells us, seems to be the best Britain has to offer.

[Aaron MkII]

Dare I ask where your shipping the homeless?

[Pendleton]

Dare I ask where your shipping the homeless?

There's no mystery to where the homeless residents have gone. They simply disappeared.

Now, shush and enjoy your two weeks of sport.

[Gandalf]

Dare I ask where your shipping the homeless?

In Sydney we shipped them to rural and semi-rural towns.

They came back eventually.

[wautd]

He told the Daily Mail: "This is not a prison. Nobody is forced to stay there. Many of our staff have come from areas where there is extremely high unemployment and are very happy to be working in the Games.

Love the implication that they should be grateful to have a job. Really fucking classy.

Shit like that works in Dubai as well. They don't actually pay their slaves workers, but are free to leave (which might be difficult if you're in the middle of a desert and have no money left to buy a flight ticket.

[Aaron MkII]

Dare I ask where your shipping the homeless?

In Sydney we shipped them to rural and semi-rural towns.

They came back eventually.

I think Vancouver did as well, or at least tried too.

[Broomstick]

He told the Daily Mail: "This is not a prison. Nobody is forced to stay there. Many of our staff have come from areas where there is extremely high unemployment and are very happy to be working in the Games.

Love the implication that they should be grateful to have a job. Really fucking classy.

Wouldn't that be "really fucking classist"?

[Eleas]

Wouldn't that be "really fucking classist"?

Careful saying such things. You may risk igniting a class war.[/sarcasm]

[Vendetta]

Dare I ask where your shipping the homeless?

Putting hi-vis jackets on them and calling them "event security".

[Hillary]

So....a Daily Telegraph article quoting from a Daily Mail article. Forgive my scepticism.

Essentially it is a series of allegations made by a paper notorious for one-eyed journalism. The only basis for this appears to be complaints from ONE worker who didn't even apply for a job (that's her perogative).

So breaking it down.

London 2012 Olympics: Games cleaners 'forced to share shower with 75 others in prison camp conditions'
Hundreds of cleaners drafted in to work over the London Olympics are being forced to sleep and wash in overcrowded, squalid conditions, according to claims made in a newspaper investigation.

Depends how many showers there are for the 75 people

The workers – many of them flown in from abroad, despite Locog’s promise that many of the jobs would go to locals – have been housed on a camp site in Newham, east London, away from public view, reports the Daily Mail.

Standard "all them foreigners taking our jobs" rhetoric. Incidentally, it doesn't tell us how many of the jobs HAVE gone to locals - one would suspect that if it were very few, the paper would be happy to give numbers.

They will allegedly be forced to sleep in portable cabins which have been left damp thanks to the wet summer weather during the Olympics.

Allegedly. In any case, would anyone expect them not to be housed in portocabins? It's very temporary accommodation FFS.

Indeed the site has been flooded and stagnant water lies on the ground, meaning the workers have had to resort to using old crates as makeshift ‘stepping stones’ to navigate through the camp site, it has been claimed.

It's been raining non-stop for three months - we've had floods in several parts of the country. Of course it's going to be a bit wet. They've laid crates down to allow the staff to get through the puddles. Stagnant water, indeed.

Additionally the workers will apparentlyl bed down in dormitories for 10 and share lavatories with 25 people – and a shower with a staggering 75 others.

Depends how big the dormitories are and how many showers there are.

The Daily Mail article reports that when the workers arrived they were horrified to be told that there would be no work for them in the first fortnight, and that they were forced to pay the cleaning company £18 every day – £550 a month – for the accommodation in the crowded cabins.

You mean people were turning up without bothering to find out what was happening and what the terms of employment were. I'm not crying any tears

Andrea Murnoz, a 21-year-old student from Madrid, described the conditions as being like “a prison camp” and told the newspaper: “I couldn’t believe it when I saw the places people were sleeping.

“I was thinking I would apply for a job, but I have changed my mind. My two friends signed up, but I think they are regretting it.

Anecdote, I spy anecdote.

“When I first saw the metal gates and the tall tower in the middle, it reminded me of a prison camp. It looks horrible.”

Oh noes, she doesn't like the architecture!!!

Now the workers have been made to agree not to discuss the conditions with the press and their family and friends have been barred from visiting them, officially “for security reasons”.

It's a restricted site so they won't allow anyone in but those who have been vetted. You mean like in the athletes' village? They are not allowed to discuss the layout of the site with the press - quite right.

On a related note, can you imagine it if anyone was allowed into the restricted areas - The Mail, especially would have a field day about lax security.

Locog backed the plans despite environmental health officers warning that the bathroom facilities were "unlikely to be adequate" and architects feared that the sleeping arrangements would be "cramped" – accommodation which has more than two adults per room is considered "overcrowded" under housing laws.

Selective quoting of housing laws (these are dormitories, not houses) - plus if the EHO are that concerned, they have the power to close it down.

Craig Lovett, of Spotless International Services which runs the camp, insisted that the number of lavatories and showers per person exceeded requirements for temporary accommodation. He pointed out, too, that internet, medical and entertainment facilities were provided on-site, and that shift patterns would ease pressure.

So, the people who run the things insist that everything is within the rules. Not that this carries much more weight than Murnoz'sanecdote, but it certainly carries no less.

He told the Daily Mail: "This is not a prison. Nobody is forced to stay there. Many of our staff have come from areas where there is extremely high unemployment and are very happy to be working in the Games.

Indeed - this is not a continent where if you don't work you starve.

"There will always be a couple of disgruntled people on site, but it’s a shame they didn’t come to talk to us to air their grievances because there are certainly processes in place for them to do that."

Indeed.

A Locog spokesman added: "Cleanevent [part of Spotless] have assured us that the accommodation they are providing their workers is of a suitable standard."

Again, no great weight attached to this but no less than Murnoz

A nothing story.

[madd0ct0r]

Additionally the workers will apparentlyl bed down in dormitories for 10 and share lavatories with 25 people – and a shower with a staggering 75 others.

i dunno about the rest, but that seems pretty clearly stating 10 people to a dorm, 25 people per toilet and 75 people per shower.

[Hillary]

Additionally the workers will apparentlyl bed down in dormitories for 10 and share lavatories with 25 people – and a shower with a staggering 75 others.

i dunno about the rest, but that seems pretty clearly stating 10 people to a dorm, 25 people per toilet and 75 people per shower.

Shower could easily translate into "shower block" and the article uses the plural 'lavatories'. 10 to a dorm may not be that bad, depending on how big it is and how it is laid out.

The Mail has form with this sort of misrepresentation - it's not exactly unfair to question the veracity of their claims.

[Alyrium Denryle]

Shower could easily translate into "shower block" and the article uses the plural 'lavatories'. 10 to a dorm may not be that bad, depending on how big it is and how it is laid out.

I have to agree here. Honestly, this sounds little worse than university dormitories where one has some 20 single rooms per side of the hallway and then a communal bathroom with multiple stalls and a shower block or some 4-8 individual showers. Other than the fact that the dormitories themselves are portable.

This seems like either an over-reaction or deliberate misrepresentation.

I am not one to defend shoddy labor practices either. It just seems to me that the brits would not flagrantly violate their own laws...

[madd0ct0r]

http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/07/ ... UP20120718

(Reuters) - When the Olympic Games begin in London next week, it won't just be the best athletes from around the world who will have descended upon the British capital.

A small army of cleaners, nearly all students, have flown in from equally far-flung countries to play their part in the Games and earn some money at the same time.

While athletes and officials stay in a brand new Olympic Village, these cleaners will live in "Camp Cleanevent", a compound on the site of a former scrap metal merchant with about 100 temporary cabins, each sleeping 10 people in bunk beds.

The camp is surrounded by a warehouses, a canal full of rusting wrecks, and a busy road, but its occupants are cheerfully determinedly to look on the bright side.

"I like this camp, I like being here, so I think London is a nice place. I like working in the Olympic Games," said one cleaner, a 21-year-old medical student from Hungary.

"I think the camp is good because there are a lot of new people who I've met, but it is a bit crowded."

The recruits have come from far and wide to join the massive cleaning operation for the Games.

Many are from Hungary and Spain, with others from across Europe and beyond. Flags from France, New Zealand, and the United States flutter above the cabins.

CORRUGATED IRON

The compound made the news in Britain this week when the Daily Mail newspaper said some of the arrivals had described it as a prison camp or a slum, with one shower for every 75 people.

The camp's corrugated iron gates, barbed wire and battered sign reading "J Collins, Scrap metal merchant" does seem a world away from the gleaming Olympic stadium and the 22 million pound ($34 million) Orbit Tower.

But while the temporary cabins might have been unexpected, the spartan accommodation did not seem a major surprise for those heading off to work at the Olympic Park on Wednesday.

"They told me we were going to live 10 people per room so I didn't expect any big room. I think it's ok to live (here) for a month," said a 19-year-old business studies student from Spain.

"If it's wet it gets really, really dirty. It's uncomfortable to have a shower because you can get dirty when you come back to your room."

But if some were dissatisfied, he said: "I think their expectations were too high."

Like others at the site, he did not want to give his name in case he lost his job, while others cited a confidentiality clause in their contract. For most, the pay offsets any reservations about living conditions.

The cleaners get over 8 pounds ($12.40) an hour, well above Britain's national minimum wage of 6.19 pounds for adults or 4.98 pounds for those aged 18 to 20, along with three meals a day, and free transport to venues.

"BETTER THAN SPAIN"

"It's better paid than in Spain," the business studies student added. "It's not that easy to find a job with that salary for cleaning."

The rent, however, is 18 pounds a day, or about 550 pounds a month, roughly the cost of renting a one-room apartment.

When it gave permission for the compound, Newham Council, the local authority, acknowledged there had been concern at the quality of the accommodation, but said it met all relevant standards.

Craig Lovett, chief executive of Spotless International Services, the firm employing the cleaners which has now worked on eight Olympics, was clearly riled by the Mail's article.

"You assemble a workforce of 3,600 people and sometimes some people are not going to be happy. It's not a prison, people can leave any time they want to," he told Reuters.

"There's enough in the press about people who can't put a workforce together, we certainly know how to put a workforce together," he added in a dig at the security firm G4S, which has failed to recruit enough guards for the Olympic venues.

For many of the foreign students his firm has hired, the chance to be in London for what is often described as the greatest sporting show on earth outweighs all other concerns.

"I came here to be a cleaner and live next to the Olympic Park," one 22-year-old Hungarian student said. "That's enough for me." ($1 = 0.6422 British pounds) (Editing by Kevin Liffey)

the article makes explicit one shower per 75 people, but it's a bit muddled on other aspects:

100 cabins sleeping 10 people = 1000 people but the workforce mentioned later is 3600 (so maybe 2600 are locals?)
1000 / 75 = 13.3 so somethings wrong with the numbers.

[Sea Skimmer]

I found these two picture attached to a Mail article that also claims the site was flooded, you can indeed see some pallets on the ground, in around one of many buildings, and that clearly a lot of the ground is paved, and that the problem is localized. Horrors, I had a worse driveway growing up when it rained.





What would anyone really expect for temporary housing for such a temporary job anyway? Even if the rent is equal to renting a normal apartment, if the buildings aren't going to be reused the fact that the workers are only sticking around for a matter of weeks kind of puts a big limit on how much money it makes sense to spend on accommodations. Some more showers would be nice, but that may well have been limited by the sewer hookups or some other factor. If the place met standards, blame the local government for that.

[Alyrium Denryle]

The only thing I might have taken exception to is the price in rent. Then I looked up the rates for some london youth hostels, and the rate per diem for these workers is better than said youth hostels, and my concerns evaporated.

Other than the philosophical objection I have to charging rent to migrant workers housed on site. I think that is intrinsically BS.

[Grumman]

What would anyone really expect for temporary housing for such a temporary job anyway? Even if the rent is equal to renting a normal apartment, if the buildings aren't going to be reused the fact that the workers are only sticking around for a matter of weeks kind of puts a big limit on how much money it makes sense to spend on accommodations.

Why wouldn't they be reused? Haven't there been threads about how bad the housing situation is in London? They've had seven years warning, wouldn't that have been long enough to kill two birds with one stone by building housing that could continue to be used after the Olympics finish?

[Simon_Jester]

Because you then have to get someone (either the state or the contractors) to fund the creation of a low-cost housing block.

The state isn't doing it in London these days, and getting a private corporation to do it... good luck.

[madd0ct0r]

this is bizzare though - since the olypic village site was scheduled to be reused as housing after.

[Sea Skimmer]

It would still cost more total money up front to do so. With the cost of the London Olympics first estimated at £2.5 billion, and now well over £12 billion (some estimates are as high as 16-18 billion), you have to call a halt to spending somewhere. In fact the cost of building house on that site might be much much higher, because I'm willing to bet the land for the trailers is only being rented, while building housing would require buying the land which would be very expensive anywhere in London.

[Losonti Tokash]

The concept of charging migrant workers rent is pretty repugnant. And if you're still going to do that, you can at least throw up something better for them than a rusted shack in a pile of mud. How long will it take these guys to break even if a quarter of their pay goes to renting a shithole in addition to however much it cost to get there and back?

[Starglider]

The concept of charging migrant workers rent is pretty repugnant.

It may actually be saving the workers money, versus providing 'free' accomodation and a lower wage (since the cost of putting up huts has to come out of the same budget either wage). If you provide 'free' accommodation the UK Inland Revenue treats it as a benefit and adds what they think it's worth to your taxable income. The Inland Revenue love to overestimate any and all non-cash benefits (a major reason why provision of company cars in the UK has declined so much since the early 90s). I very much doubt they would accept a figure of less than even a local Youth Hostel. I don't know the specifics for income earned by non-resident workers but it's probably similar.

There would probably also be a discrimination case against them if they were making the same job available to local and non-resident workers at the same pay, but the later got a higher effective wage due to the accommodation benefit.