Award-winning gardeners, GMB members at Regent’s Park this week

GARDENERS behind the award-winning landscaping of Regent’s Park have walked out on strike over low pay and poor working conditions.

The horticulturalists downed tools yesterday, Thursday, and joined the picket line as part of an action to pressure their employer, Idverde, into boosting pay and offering more favourable terms.

The private contractor is hired to maintain the land overseen by Royal Parks, the charity responsible for some of London’s best-loved open spaces, including Hyde Park, St James’s Park and Kensington Gardens.

GMB union regional organiser Anna Lee told the Extra the difference in rates of pay between Regent’s Park’s groundskeepers and those employed in the other parks is “broadly between 80p and £1 an hour”, and added: “The skilled gardeners have completed a three-year apprenticeship. Some of the gardeners are responsible for the design of the gardens.”

The union says that the gardeners in Regent’s Park are paid less than their colleagues working in other parks. The gardeners are employed on different contracts from other Royal Parks.

The Regent’s Park gardeners recently won a prestigious British Association of Landscape Industries award for their work.

Ms Lee said: “The awards recognise the years of work put in to create wonderful open spaces for the public to enjoy. It’s a shame their employer and the Royal Parks do not recognise it.

“Skilled, experienced, groundskeepers maintain these beautiful parks for the benefit of all Londoners but they now face the ugly prospect of being priced out of their own city.

“It would appear that those in control of the Royal Parks charity, who manage these nationally-renowned parks on behalf of the government, and the senior management team, are far removed from the reality of the day-to-day experience of workers who provide grounds maintenance services to maintain quality service to the Royal Parks.”

She urged Idverde back to the negotiating table, quoting one GMB member as saying: “We work really hard all year in all weathers and all we are asking for is the same pay for the same job no matter which park you work at. We feel like a two-tier workforce”.

An spokesperson for Idverde said: “We are disappointed by the action proposed by our colleagues at The Regent’s Park.

“We continue with open, cordial and constructive discussions with colleagues and are still hopeful of a workable resolution.”

A parks charity spokes­person said: “All staff working on The Royal Parks’ outsourced grounds maintenance contracts and its other major outsourced contracts are paid, as a minimum, the London Living Wage.

“Other than this, the terms and conditions of staff employed by those contractors are decided by their employers.

“The only exception to this is fixed-term apprentices who are paid National Living Wage while studying for a Level 2 qualification.”