Fired Cleaner Takes Action in Sandwich Fight
It started with a leftover sandwich, and soon became a high-profile legal battle.
This is the story of Ecuadorian Gabriela Rodriguez, who — just before Christmas last year — lost her job as an office cleaner in London after eating a tuna sandwich that had been left behind after a meeting.
United Voices of the World (UVW), a union that supports migrant workers, said Rodriguez thought the $1.90 sandwich would be thrown away. But UVW says she was fired after a complaint was made, allegedly by the law firm Devonshires Solicitors, whose offices she had cleaned for two years.
And now, along with UVW, she's taking legal action against Devonshires and Total Clean, the cleaning company she worked for.
UVW's Petros Elia told The Guardian the claim against Total Clean was for unfair dismissal and direct racial discrimination, while the claims against Devonshires were for "direct and/or indirect race discrimination."
The union says that firing Rodriguez was an act of discrimination, because, it alleges, there would not have been a complaint about her if she were not someone from Latin America with limited English.
Elia added: "Just because we clean their dirt, does not mean they can treat us like dirt."
Rodriguez, a 39-year-old mother-of-one, has received a lot of support in the media and from the public.
On Valentine's Day, a number of people protested outside Devonshires' offices, holding cans of tuna, hand-wrapped sandwiches and love letters for Rodriguez.
But Total Clean said it had followed UK employment law, and told The Guardian it believes "trust and honesty" are "of paramount importance."
Devonshires, meanwhile, said it did not make a "formal complaint" against Rodriguez, and "told Total Clean not to take any action against her."
The firm added: "This is a private matter between Total Clean and Gabriela." It also said it would not object to her returning to work at its offices.
