The 3 Cosas campaign is calling for solidarity from branches from all unions to support its strike fund! Please download and amend the model motion below! Please get in touch with IWGB University of London branch secretary Jason Moyer-Lee (JasonMoyer-Lee@iwgb.org.uk or call 07771783094) with any questions. Your support is much needed and much appreciated!
Author: iwgb
Student supporters of the IWGB have issued the following statement:
The Garden Halls are set to close for refurbishment in August 2014:
• The University is providing no alternative accommodation for students hoping to stay in intercollegiate halls.
• The University refuses to even meet the workers to discuss the future of their jobs.
After repeated calls for negotiations have been ignored, the workers who clean and maintain your halls have been forced to consider strike action to protect their livelihoods. They need YOUR support!
The workers are calling for:
• No job losses: for all workers to be guaranteed employment elsewhere at the University
• Equal rights for all staff: this means equal sick pay, holidays and pensions for all outsourced workers.
• Recognition of their union, the Independent Workers of Great Britain (IWGB).
How you can support them:
• Write to the University demanding they negotiate with Garden Halls staff over the job losses and provide alternative accommodation for students during the refurbishments. Contact Martin.Burchett@london.ac.uk
• Raise money for the strike fund! Call in to the University of London Union and ask for Vice President Daniel Cooper if you wish to donate money.
• Simply talk to your cleaners and tell them that you support them!
• Sign our petition, take copies of it and pass it around your halls.
Contact: campaigns@ulu.lon.ac.uk for more information, and to sign the petition.
Download and print the flier here.
Despite a year-long campaign, massive public support and numerous high-profile demonstrations, outsourced workers at the University of London seeking equal sick pay, holiday and pension provision (as part of their 3 Cosas campaign) are still faced with a refusal to negotiate on behalf of the University and its outsourcers.
As a consequence, industrial action now looks increasingly likely. IWGB members are prepared for this if necessary, but as low-paid employees already on the breadline they will inevitably be affected more than most by the loss of earnings a strike inevitably entails.
The IWGB is therefore seeking donations from all those who support the 3 Cosas campaign in order to build up a strike fund to alleviate the hardship of the strikers. By clicking this button and donating via Pay Pal you can make a massive contribution to the success of the campaign as it enters a critical phase.
The IWGB will be joining other Higher Education unions in tomorrow’s nationwide pay strike, called in reaction to the employers’ desultory 1% offer.
We’re helping organise a cross-union picket line, and all UoL employees should feel free to join us from 8am tomorrow – see you in front of the gates on the Russell Square side of Senate House!
Any questions – please email Jason at JasonMoyer-Lee@iwgb.org.uk or UoL rep Matt Mahon at Matt.Mahon@gmail.com.
The latest announcement from the University of London indicates that they are feeling the pressure of the 3 Cosas campaign and shifting their position on outsourced workers’ terms and conditions:
University announces negotiations on new co-operative
The University of London today announced that it has entered into negotiations with a number of its federal Colleges and Institutes over the formation of a new facilities management co-operative.
The co-operative would allow its members to share the cost of services such as cleaning and estates maintenance, and if agreed would be fully operational in 2015.
Benefits to members under consideration would include more resilient and tailored services as well as the ability to offer enhanced terms and conditions for the co-operative’s frontline staff, including improved holiday and sick pay entitlement.
The University is taking into account recent guidelines issued by Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs and the Higher Education Funding Council for England that lay out the benefits for cost sharing groups.
The IWGB yesterday announced the results of its first ever ballot for strike action at the central University of London. On a 50% turnout, the result was a 100% YES vote, meaning that IWGB members will join the other HE unions in the national strike action taking place on the 31 October. The IWGB is also calling for formal recognition and an increase in the London Weighting allowance.
Branch secretary Jason Moyer-Lee was upbeat, describing the vote as ‘crucial’ both in terms of the HE pay dispute and the ongoing 3 Cosas campaign at the University. ‘This shows that the IWGB will continue to play a full part in achieving a long overdue fair pay settlement for University workers, and sends a message to their outsourced colleagues that their own impending strike action will have wide support’.
A cross-union meeting to plan for the 31 October strike has been called for Tuesday 29 October at 1pm, to be held at the nearby Institute of Education.
All UoL employees are welcome, and anyone wishing for more information can contact Jason at JasonMoyer-Lee@iwgb.org.uk (07771783094) or UoL rep Matt Mahon at Matt.Mahon@gmail.com.
Balfour Beatty, which employs workers on outsourced contracts at the University of London, has failed to respond to notice of a trade dispute from the workers’ trade union, increasing the likelihood of outsourced workers’ strikes at the prestigious institution.
The company and the University have ignored repeated calls from workers’ representatives in the Independent Workers of Great Britain (IWGB) for negotiation over the planned closure of inter-collegiate student halls, trade union recognition, and outstanding grievances around unequal sick pay, holiday pay and pensions.
The IWGB has made clear that it is still keen to begin negotiations but that a continuing failure by the company to reciprocate is making strike action more likely.
A spokesperson said: ‘No one ever wants to go on strike but the company and the University of London have consistently treated staff with contempt, refusing to speak to workers’ representatives, and giving no promise that redundancies will not be made when the halls close. Workers cannot live with this continuing uncertainty and are fully prepared to resort to strike action if their employer and the university will not behave responsibly’.
The University of London IWGB branch has been making the following demands for months:
- Equal pension, sick pay and holiday rights
- Guarantees of jobs for Garden Halls workers
- Proper consultation and negotiation with the union
Balfour Beatty Workplace and the University of London have failed to resolve these issues. As a result, the IWGB is now preparing for strike action. This has been approved in principle at previous branch meetings.
The IWGB General Secretary has now written to the company to start the process. This means any strike will be legal and no worker can be sacked for taking part. The next step is to discuss how the strike will work, and to consult all members through an official ballot.
WE ALL NEED TO WORK TOGETHER ON THIS, SO PLEASE COME TO THE NEXT BRANCH MEETING, FRIDAY 18 OCTOBER AT SOAS.
THE MEETING WILL START AT 12, SO SENATE HOUSE PORTERS CAN ATTEND, AND CARRY ON UNTIL 3, SO PLEASE COME WHEN YOUR SHIFTS FINISH.
Any questions, just email uol@iwgb.org.uk or call Henry on 07922810798
by Sonia Chura, University of London cleaner and Vice-Chair of the University of London Branch of the Independent Workers’ Union of Great Britain (IWGB)
On Thursday, 26 September, the general secretary of my union sent a letter to Balfour Beatty Workplace, the company that does the cleaning, security, and maintenance at the University of London’s central administration and halls of residence. The letter contained three demands, and notified that failing progress on these demands the union would be balloting its members for industrial action. In other words, the University of London’s outsourced workers will be going on strike.
This means that for a period of time this semester, University of London halls of residence and the Senate House library will not be cleaned, chairs, desks and rooms will not be arranged, mail won’t be sorted, and the buildings might have to survive with less maintenance and security guard personnel. In addition to causing major disruptions to the University’s daily functioning, the strike will also likely attract national media attention thereby sullying the University of London’s good name. Given that strikes are often considered a last resort, you may be curious to know how we have gotten to this point. As the Vice-Chair of the University of London branch of the IWGB- the largest union among outsourced workers at the University- I will attempt to explain.
Read the full article here – Why We Will Strike
Independent Workers Union of Great Britain - Universities of London Branch 