My name is Genevieve Tommy, I am a widow and I have two children. I live in Peckham and I work at Great Ormond Street Hospital for Children (GOSH) as a domestic assistant where I clean the hospital and make it nice for the children.

GOSH treats children from all over the UK and is a world leader in developing treatments for children with some of the most complex conditions. It is one of the biggest heart transplant centres for children in the world and carries out 60% of all UK operations for children with epilepsy. I take great pride in working here.

Throughout this pandemic, my colleagues and I have been clapped as “heroes” and we have been recognised as “key workers”. It is a shame - and it is shameful - that we are not treated as such by GOSH.

In the past year, we've had to fight to be brought in-house. We won but we have not been given the same terms and conditions as other NHS workers. We are treated as “just cleaners” at best - but we are mostly invisible, which is perhaps even worse.

Last year, when an unarmed Black man, George Floyd, was murdered by police in the US in broad daylight, the world woke up to the history and the reality of structural racism in all its forms. What better concrete example than this one: the story of us cleaners - mostly Black and Brown people, mostly migrants from around the world - being treated as second class citizens.

What we are asking for is simple and it should surely go without saying: we want the same annual leave, maternity/paternity pay and redundancy pay as other NHS workers.

So far the CEO, Mr Matthew Shaw, and the GOSH Board, are refusing to meet our demands or even sit down and talk to us and our union, United Voices of the World.

But you can help us fight - because it is all our fight.

If you sign this petition you'll be letting Matthew Shaw and his board know they are under the spotlight, that we have allies, that we are not invisible.

Petitions make a difference. Please sign and show your solidarity.