LONDON — Chanting, “They say cut back, we say fight back!” 40 cleaning and catering workers at Forest School in east London concluded their first ever week on strike with a militant picket line Oct. 2.

Many of the low-paid workers — immigrants from Spain, Colombia, Lithuania, Poland and Portugal, as well as from the U.K. — said they joined Unite the Union three months ago after learning school owners were cutting their pay to cover just 45 weeks a year, a 13.5% cut.

“This is a case of a rich private school putting profits before people and attacking the lowest-paid workers,” United General Secretary Sharon Graham told the media.

“We’re strong, we’re going to stop the cut and win union recognition,” union representative Luisa Pérez, who has worked at the school for 16 years, told the Militant on the picket line.

“I have a 16-year-old daughter at the school,” Nichola Clarke said as she joined the picket. Students applauded the strikers as they arrived for classes.

Forest is a private school that charges parents 11,000 pounds ($14,570) per term for each secondary pupil, 8,000 pounds for primary. The catering and cleaning operation is run by contractor Compass UK and Ireland. It operates “in over 25 countries with around 590,000 employees worldwide” with “revenues of over $46 billion for the 2025 fiscal year,” says the company’s website.