CLEANERS at the Houses of Parliament, who work for £5 an hour, no sick pay or pension and 12 days leave, today dropped their mops and picked up placards in their first strike ever.

MPs and Lords today had to cross picket lines as about 170 cleaners turned up for the strike that started less than 24 hours before parliament breaks up for the summer recess.

More than 20 MPs joined their ranks, pledging to back their fight for a "London living wage" of £6.70 an hour, 20 days holiday a year, sick pay and pensions.

The Transport and General Workers' Union (TGWU) ordered the strike by cleaners working for two agencies, Mitie Cleaning and Emprise Services, which were contracted by parliamentary authorities.

Although the agencies are their direct employers, the power to increase their pay still lies with the client - the parliamentary authorities.

Meanwhile cleaners who work directly for parliament get £8 an hour, six weeks' holiday, sick pay and a pension.

TGWU general secretary Jack Dromey said: "Parliament should be ashamed of poverty pay in the home of democracy."

Columbian cleaner Nestor Barona, 23, has worked in the House of Lords for four years. Earlier he worked 11-hour shifts to supplement his income, but illness forced him to cut it down to eight.

"A lot of people take advantage from cleaners because they come from other country, see (sic)."

Many of his colleagues, mostly from Africa, South America and the West Indian Islands, juggle two jobs to feed their families.

At the end of the month, he takes £700 home to his wife, mother and three siblings in Kennington, south London.

"It's a disgrace to have to go on strike for £6,70. People don't get rich from that. It's a living wage," he said.

"If they can afford to send bombs elsewhere, they can afford to pay the cleaners £6,70."

He also spoke about the cleaners' toilets in the "dungeons" where one can smell sewage. "You see the mouse in there (sic). I freaked out, seriously."

But the strike is about more than pay and working conditions. It is also about respect.

"Cleaning is the lowest job on earth," said Kenrick Clark, a Jamaican who has cleaned the Houses of Parliament for the last six of his 44 years in Britain. "You are looked at as the job you do."

Some people treat the cleaners like the dirt they have to wipe up behind them, even waiting for to be "begged" to move out of the way, he added.

His official hours as a janitor are from 9am to 5pm. Yet the father of four grown children comes in at 6am to work three hours extra as a cleaner, adding £15 a day to his income.

"Low pay, no way," the cleaners chanted as he spoke.

Inside the House of Commons Prime Minister Tony Blair said the pay of the cleaners was a "commercial matter" and a matter for the house authorities.

About 130 MPs signed an early day motion urging parliamentary authorities to "end this sorry state of affairs".