feature Recognition agreement
FREDERICO’S DREAM
High above the new Wood Wharf development two workers abseil down the side of a recently finished skyscraper, cleaning the acres of glass that cover the building.
On the ground their boss is explaining why he has recently signed a recognition agreement with Unite and is encouraging all his employees to become union members.
Frederico Albergaria, pictured right, is the director of Rope Access Group (RAG) UK, a company he built up himself as a window cleaner in London in 2006.
RAG is a rope access company that employs well-trained and experienced workers, who can often be seen hanging off very tall buildings across London.
They specialise in carrying out inspection activities, cleaning windows and facades, maintenance and assembly as well as renovation work on monumental buildings.
Although Frederico mentioned they had just been hanging Christmas lights on 25 pubs across central London.
Frederico had been aware of Unite for some time, but it was when attending a mandatory induction session at Wood Wharf that he decided the time was right to join the union.
It may seem unusual for a company director to search out the union to sign up their workers.
Most directors seem unaware of the benefits that trade union membership can have for businesses as well as workers, but Frederico is not “most directors” – and joining a union is as natural to him as descending from the docklands skyscrapers that surround us.
Frederico, is originally from Brazil, and his mother, Vitória Maria da Silva, was the first woman president of Sindicato dos Contabilistas do Município do Rio de Janeiro, or Sindicont Rio, the regional union for accountants.
Window cleaners join Unite in new deal
Vitória was originally from rural north east Brazil, moving to Rio de Janeiro for better professional and learning opportunities. Through hard work and study she graduated in social work from the University of Rio de Janeiro, later obtaining a degree in accounting from the Augusto Motta University Society, resulting in a 38 year career as an accountant.
Vitória joined SINDICONT-Rio on October 31, 1979, holding various union positions until becoming the first female accountant elected to become president in its 93 years history.
As president between 2006 and 2010 she focused on improving the image of SINDICONT-Rio, and the working conditions for its employees,
All images: Mark Thomas
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