Lord Shaftesbury please come back

170 cleaners organised by The Transport and General Workers Union staged a 24-hour walkout from Parliament on Wednesday, General Secretary Jack Dromey joined the protest with some 2- Labour MP’s.

The cleaners, employed by 2 private contractors, not directlty by parliament, earn £5 an hour, with no sick pay or pension, and receive 12 days' holiday a year. Staff directly employed by parliamentary authorities receive £8 an hour, six weeks' holiday, sick pay and a pension.

The statutory minimum wage is currently £4.85 an hour, set to increase to £5.05 an hour in October.

Martyn Besey, the director general of the Cleaning and Support Services Association, told BBC Radio 4's Today programme that the cleaning industry was "highly competitive" and profits last year for every company in the sector were less than 4%.

One of the cleaners, Tesfaalen Gebru, 43, said he had two cleaning jobs at the Commons to earn a decent wage. He cleaned kitchens during the night and then cleared rubbish during the day, working a 64-hour week. (Technically against EU legislation on Maximum working hours)