Michael, aged nine, had just come back from a meeting with the bosses of London City Airport.
“We told them about how many hours and different jobs our parents had to work to make a living, and how tired and stressed they were,” he told me. “And how if they paid them fairly, we could see them again, and have hot meals and birthday presents.”
It was one of the first times I’d seen TELCO (The East London Citizens Organisation) in action. Confronted by the children from the local Catholic primary school, St Antony’s, City Airport agreed to become a Living Wage employer – meaning a £1,500-a-year pay rise for contractors, including cleaners and security staff.
