Lesley, Maric, and Karen had 28 years combined experience cleaning Kinsley primary school when their jobs were turned upside down. When their school district moved to outsource their jobs, they got a new corporate employer that slashed their wages and their benefits.  

But these three brave women wouldn’t put up with these changes without a fight. In September, they began picketing outside the school to protect their wages. And despite garnering support from workers across the UK and even Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn, the C&D Cleaning company fired them just days before Christmas.

Firing the “Kinsley Three” was a heartless move, but it’s what we’ve come to expect when public services are outsourced, wages are cut, and pensions are lost. We need more brave workers like Lesley, Maric, and Karen standing up against outsourcing. That’s why we’re coming together to call on the Wakefield school district to reverse the decision to outsource their jobs and rehire the Kinsley Three.  

Tell Wakefield school district to bring school cleaning jobs back to the public sector and rehire the Kinsley Three.

Before their wages were cut from £7.85 to the £7.20 minimum wage, none of the Kinsley Three were activists. But Lesley Leake says “we didn’t know what else we could do. Leake says it wasn’t just about the money, but the stress that was impacting them and their families.

Leake recounts that besides her pension, sick pay, and holiday entitlements were also harmed by the district’s contract with C&D Cleaning. But it’s not just the Kinsley Three -- countless workers are seeing their wages and benefits slashed due to outsourcing. Outsourcing is driving a race to the bottom that Corbyn called a “national disgrace” when he spoke out in support of Leake and her colleagues.

The Kinsley Three are becoming a symbol of the ills of outsourcing public services funded by taxpayers. Putting corporations in the driver’s seat hurts both the quality of services and the lives of workers. Let’s use this as an opportunity to stand against outsourcing by demanding Wakefield school district do right by the Kinsley Three.

Tell Wakefield school district to bring cleaning services back in-house and rehire the Kinsley Three.