To show your support for Nuvia Erazo Farias, the University of London cleaner taking her employer to court on grounds of maternity discrimination, please send the email below to Professor Sir Adrian Smith, Vice-Chancellor of the University of London at adrian.smith@london.ac.uk:

Dear Professor Sir Adrian Smith, Vice-Chancellor of the University of London,

I am writing to profess my profound concern over the treatment of Nuvia Erazo Farias, a University of London cleaner.

It has come to my attention that last summer, when Nuvia was six months pregnant, her job was at risk of redundancy.  She applied for vacancies, and was then told that she would not be given a job interview because of her “condition” and was made redundant.  Luckily, after a series of legal threats from her union, Nuvia was given a permanent job.  However, this only happened after weeks of stress and anxiety which culminated in Nuvia’s hospitalization. This, I hope you would agree, is appalling behavior for a university campus.

It has also come to my attention that the University of London has been aware of Nuvia’s situation for some time but has chosen not to intervene to encourage its contractor to settle the claim.  This means that Nuvia has to pay the exorbitant employment tribunal fee, arrange for childcare for a five day tribunal, and endure the grueling cross-examination of your contractor’s high-paid barristers.

For the sake of the integrity of the University of London, and the dignity of Nuvia, I would request that you please intervene in this matter as a matter of urgency.  Nuvia deserves compensation for what she has endured at the hands of your contractor.

Yours sincerely

28 January, 2015, London.  An outsourced cleaner at the University of London is taking her employer to an employment tribunal on allegations of maternity discrimination.  The tribunal hearing is scheduled to take place on 3, 4, 5, 6, and 9 February, 2015 at the London Central Employment Tribunal.

Nuvia Erazo Farias is an Ecuadorian cleaner employed by Cofely Workplace Limited to clean the University of London’s student residence halls.  Until June of last year Nuvia worked at the Garden Halls, three student residence halls that the University of London shut down in the summer for refurbishments.  As a result of the closure, Nuvia’s job was put at risk of redundancy.  Like many of her colleagues, Nuvia applied for various vacancies in order to avoid redundancy.

However, unlike most of her colleagues, Nuvia- who was six months pregnant at the time- was not given an invitation letter or any advance notice for her job interview.  Nor was her “interview” conducted by two managers as protocol required.  The one manager present was Sharon Bracey, the Cleaning Services Manager who doubles as the UNISON rep.

“Sharon told me that she didn’t want to talk about work because of my ‘condition’ and only wanted to speak about redundancy and maternity pay,” said Nuvia  Nuvia was then made redundant.  Sharon Bracey has a patchy history with maternity discrimination as allegations that she was trying to drive a pregnant woman out of her job resulted in another (unrelated) employment tribunal claim just over a year ago.

Sonia Chura, Vice-Chair of the University of London Branch of the Independent Workers’ Union of Great Britain (IWGB), Nuvia’s union, said: “They say that this country is where human rights are most respected, yet here we can see that this is clearly not the case.  The case of our co-worker Nuvia is one more example of the abuse that women cleaners are subjected to daily.  There are many more cases like this one which are hidden in silence.  We give our full moral support to Nuvia for her to continue with this case.”

Henry Chango Lopez, Chair of the University of London Branch of the IWGB said: “The current allegations of discrimination against the Cofely UNISON rep are one more reason why the Cofely-UNISON Recognition Agreement is not fit for purpose.  Workers want a union that will defend them in the workplace, not one that causes problems for them.  That is why over 70% of the workforce has joined the IWGB.”

After a series of legal threats Cofely backtracked and gave Nuvia a permanent position.  However, in the interim, Nuvia went through an extremely stressful period, culminating in her hospitalization, believing that she would no longer have a source of income after her maternity leave.

The University of London was contacted a number of times about this case and chose not to intervene.

A public hearing is to begin on 3 February, 2015 at the London Central Employment Tribunal (Erazo Farias v Cofely Workplace Limited).

For more information, contact Dr. Jason Moyer-Lee at Jasonmoyer-lee@iwgb.org.uk or at 07771783094.

To follow the latest developments see:

Facebook: IWGB University of London;

Twitter: #YoSoyNuvia

After what seemed like an age of bureaucratic procrastination, the IWGB has finally been issued with its Certificate of Independence by the Certification Officer. For any doubters – it’s in black and white on the gov.uk website.

The certificate is intended to show that a union

• is not under the domination or control of an employer or group of employers or of one or more employers’ associations; and
• is not liable to interference by an employer or any such group or association (arising out of the provision of financial or material support or by any other means whatsoever) tending towards such control.

Obviously, the way the IWGB has been conducting itself was bound to raise suspicions that it was just a stooge of the University of London and Cofely, so hopefully this bit of paper will finally put those vicious rumours to bed…

The major significance of this for the union is that now we can start forcing employers to legally recognise us!

It costs around four grand to get one of these, which was funded by a grant from the LUSH fund -for which may thanks…

Cowed by anti-strike legislation introduced in the 1980s, British trade unions mostly retreated to the comfort zone ofsocial partnership following their large-scale industrial defeats in the 1980s. Since the financial crisis of 2008, sustained attacks on workers terms and conditions have seen the longest period of wage decline since the 1870s, whilst trade union membership languishes at its lowest level for 70 years.

What will it take to create an effective labour movement that takes the fight to employers, wins concessions and reverses the tide of defeat?

Read full article here.

The long-awaited All-Staff Meeting is finally being held this Thursday 15 January at 11am. Though senior management are likely to try and keep it off the agenda, it is a great opportunity to try and get some answers on London Weighting to questions such as:

• Can the University justify imposing this settlement when many staff are clearly unhappy with it?
• Why, with an issue that has been unresolved for 22 years, is there such urgency to end discussions after just 2 quick meetings?
• Given the rosy state of the University’s finances, why can they not afford a more generous settlement?

If you can’t make it – do send us any suggested questions, or submit them here: https://intranet.london.ac.uk/3781.html (there’s a strong possibility that they may try to avoid any direct questions on Thursday, so getting them in beforehand is definitely a good idea).

Any questions, do get in touch via uol@iwgb.org.uk.

We’re trying to put together a little library in the union office, and were wondering if members had any books they might want to donate.

Anything on labour history or employment law would be fantastic BUT we’d consider anything, as many of our members are also learning English and would benefit from reading novels or other non-fiction as well.

Please get in touch with us, or just drop in at the office…

80 Lambs Conduit Street, Bloomsbury, London, WC1N 3LZ
uol@iwgb.org.uk
Tel: 02072428044