La reunión general anual de la Rama Universidad de Londres de este año tendrá lugar el sábado 27 de abril, ¡y todos los miembros están invitados!
Esta es una oportunidad de escuchar todo lo que la sucursal ha hecho en el último año (¡cuando hemos crecido a más de 600 miembros!), Elegir a los oficiales para el próximo año y comer algunas empañadas …
Todos los detalles para seguir, ¡pero por favor póngalos en el diario ahora!
Cualquier pregunta a uol@iwgb.org.uk.
This year’s University of London Annual General Meeting will take place on Saturday 27 April, and all members are invited!
This is your chance to hear about everything the branch has done in the last year (when we have grown to over 600 members!), elect officers for the next year and eat some empañadas…
Full details to follow – but please put in the diary now!
Any questions to uol@iwgb.org.uk.
The IWGB and UCL UCU have written jointly to Sodexo and UCL in protest at their plans to introduce biometric testing for cleaners at UCL – full letter below!
We are writing in response to the announcement by Sodexo that the company plans
to introduce a Time Management System using biometric technology for cleaners
employed on the UCL contract.
Both we and the affected workers (many
of whom are members of the IWGB union) believe that this proposal is
ill-considered, discriminatory and likely to be in breach of the Biometrics
Institute’s2017 Biometric Privacy Guidelines, as well as the
UK’s 2018 General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) with regard to the
principle of proportionality.
These workers are already the most heavily scrutinised in the University. They have passes in order to clock in and out, as well as a signing in book, and their supervisors control their entry to and exit from work. The introduction of additional monitoring systems is out of step with contemporary practice in relation to cleaning jobs in buildings of this type, and therefore excessive.
We are therefore calling on Sodexo and UCL to halt the implementation process immediately, and to provide answers to the following questions:
1) Why is this system being introduced for cleaners, but not for any other group of staff working at UCL?
2) Why is it being introduced at UCL and not at other comparable institutions (indeed, plans for a similar system at Birkbeck were recently abandoned)?
3) Given the disproportionate number of BAME staff working on the cleaning contract, has an Equality Impact Assessment been conducted to ensure that these plans are not in breach of the Equalities Act 2010?
4) Can Sodexo please provide references to their own policies to show that they have addressed the following guidelines as laid out in the 2017 Biometric Privacy Guidelines?
i) Principle 1 Respect for Individuals/Data Subject Privacy
ii) Principle 2 Proportionality
iii) Principle 3 Informed Consent
iv) Principle 4 Truth and Accuracy in Business Operations
v) Principle 5 Protection of Biometric Data Collected
vi) Principle 6 Complaints and Enquiries
vii) Principle 7 Purpose
viii) Principle 8 Non Discrimination
ix) Principle 9 Accountability
x) Principle 10 Sharing of Biometric Data
xi) Principle 11 Provision of Advance Warnings of Surveillance
xii) Principle 12 Transmission of Biometric Data Beyond National Boundaries
xiii) Principle 13 Employee Biometric Data Must be Protected
xiv) Principle 14 Limit the Extent of Personal Data Exchanged and Retained
xv) Principle 15 Maintain a Strong Privacy Environment
xvi) Principle 16 Maintain Privacy Logs
5) If the Biometrics Institute Privacy Guidelines have not been incorporated into the policy, could Sodexo please send a copy of the relevant Privacy Impact Assessment that has been carried out in relation to the proposed implementation?
The IWGB and UCU are extremely concerned both at these plans and at the way they are being implemented with little consultation or consideration for the privacy rights of our colleagues. If this is not halted then we will be passing the matter to our respective legal departments and considering a representation to the Information Commissioner., especially in relation to any areas of GDPR-related non-compliance.
A failure on the part of Sodexo to address our concerns within 10 working days will leave us no option but to alert all UCL staff and students to this inconsiderate and disproportionate approach to the privacy rights of the most vulnerable and low-paid of our colleagues on campus.
Yours sincerely
Maritza
Castillo Calle (President UoL IWGB)
Danny Millum (Branch Secretary UoL IWGB)
Sean Wallis (President UCL UCU)
Saladin Meckled-Garcia (Vice President UCL UCU)
Tony Brown (Branch Secretary UCL UCU)
Caroline Lucas, Green Party joint leader and Brighton Pavilion MP, has joined the Independent Workers Union of Great Britain’s (IWGB) Senate House boycott.
In a statement she said: ‘I strongly support the action being taken by the UoL workers – it is completely wrong that they are subject to worse terms and conditions than directly employed workers. Like you, I am deeply concerned about fundamental changes in our labour market in recent decades, including the spread of outsourcing by public bodies: well-paid jobs on permanent contracts have dwindled, while bogus self-employment, zero-hours contracts, and low pay are rife.
‘With wage growth stalled, the high employment rate masks the insecurity faced by huge numbers of workers. So I am very happy to join my Green Party colleagues Sian Berry and Jonathan Bartley in supporting the boycott.’
SOAS Unison, the University and College Union (UCU) and Stand Up to Racism, have come together to host a meeting calling for politicians and the media to end the demonisation of migrants and refugees.
Taking place in London on 14 March in the Torrington Square headquarters of SOAS, the public event will discuss why migration is not a crime, and how we can put an end the ‘hostile environment’ immigration policy introduced by Theresa May when she was home secretary.
The Windrush scandal highlighted by the Guardian’s investigative journalists has revealed the inhumanity of our government’s ‘hostile environment’ policy. Yet, despite the damage, including death, it has caused to thousands of British citizens from the ‘Windrush generation’, the prime minister has steadfastly refused to apologise for putting it in place.
Detention and deportations are destroying the lives of people that are part of the fabric of our society, and thousands of refugees remain stranded in northern France. Moreover, in the turmoil of Brexit, Theresa May is using the rights of migrants as a bargaining chip.
Added to this, Islamophobic hate crime is continuing to grow, with Muslim women at the sharp end. And there has been a major resurgence of antisemitism across Europe with France reporting a 74 per cent increase in the number of offences against Jews last year and Germany pointing to a surge of more than 60 per cent.
From Jair Bolsonaro in Brazil and Marine Le Pen in France, to the right wing Alternative for Germany (AfD) party and Austria’s anti-immigration Freedom party (FPO), racists and fascists are moving off the political margins to centre stage. The threat is huge, but together we can turn the tide.
Speakers include Melanie Strickland, one of the ‘Stanstead 15’ anti-deportation activists who were convicted of a terrorism-related offence for chaining themselves around an immigration removal flight at Stanstead airport, Paru Raman, SOAS Centre for Migration and Diaspora Studies, and Naima Omar, Stand Up to Racism.
Come along to the Wolfson Lecture Theatre, SOAS, Torrington Square, London WC1H 0XG (Paul Webley Wing, Senate House North Block), 14 March, 7pm, and join in the discussion. It takes place in the run up to the national United Against Fascism and Racism demonstration which is on the following Saturday, 16 March.
Details
Migration is not a crime: end the hostile environment, 7pm, 14 March, SOAS, Torrington Square, London WC1H 0XG (Paul Webley Wing, north block, Senate House )
National anti-racism demonstration, 16 March. Assemble 12 noon, Park Lane London W1, near Dorchester hotel (nearest tube Hyde Park Corner). March to Whitehall
Yesterday (26 February) hundreds of London’s outsourced workers, including cleaners, security and catering staff, walked out in the latest in a series of strikes over pay and conditions.
Coming together in a show of solidarity, they timed their protest to mark what the Guardian describes as a “landmark case on collective bargaining that could empower the UK’s 3.3 million outsourced workers to negotiate directly with their de-facto employers – the companies buying the outsourced services – as well as their direct employers.”
Starting from Senate House, home to the University of London’s administrative offices, members of unions including the Independent Workers Union of Great Britain (IWGB), United Voices of the World (UVW), and PCS, marched through central London. University of London students and the RMT union’s London Regional Council supported them.
Each group of workers had their own particular grievances, but what they all had in common was the desire to end the “discrimination between those who count and those who don’t count at all,” as eloquently voiced by IWGB member, Emma Margarita Cunalata.
Speaking in front of Winston Churchill’s statue opposite the Houses of Parliament she said, “We have the right to earn money, and to the profits that are taken from us. We have the right to a better life.”
Their employers might have chosen to turn a deaf ear to their pleas to clean up outsourcing, but the UK’s media organisations were listening.
More than 15 national and regional publications such as the Financial Times, the Press and Journal, The Times and the iNews, covered the walkout.
Others include:
The University of London (UoL) has confirmed that the transfer date for employees currently working for Health Education England (HEE) under UoL contracts, is 1 August 2019.
This decision was apparently made following “an exchange between the vice-chancellor and HEE”, the content of which IWGB has asked to see.
Many of the union’s in-depth legal and financial questions remain unanswered, and its representatives will continue to pursue these as well as explore possibilities of legal action relating to the process.
We will of course keep you posted as to developments.
The big launch of the IWGB union’s activities centre for Spanish speakers was carried out with great success this Saturday (18 February), which included, employment law workshop, Brexit, legal clinic, language exchange and bingo.
Thanks to all the people who attended the event to get informed, and share a moment of companionship, and fun.
These events will take place every two weeks on Saturdays at Elephant and Castle, which include legal clinics of employment rights and language exchange. The next event will take place on 2nd March from 12.30–3pm to which everyone is invited.
During the week, we will be giving more detailed information about the workshops and the topics to be given.
Details from: henrychangolopez@iwgb.co.uk
__________________________________________________________________
Con gran éxito se llevo a cabo el lanzamiento del centro de actividades para hispano hablantes del sindicato IWGB este dia sabado, el cual incluyo taller de leyes laborales, salida del Reino Unido de la Union Europea (Brexit), clinica legal, intercambio de lenguaje y bingo.
Gracias a todas las personas que asistieron al evento para informarse y compartir un momento de compañerismo y diversión .
Los eventos tendran lugar cada dos semanas los dias sabados en Elephant and Castle, los cuales incluyen clinicas legales de leyes laborales he intercamibio de lenguaje.
El proximo evento tendra lugar el proximo sabado 2 de marzo de 12:30 – 3pm al cual todos estan invitados..
Durante la semana estaremos dando información mas detallada acerca de los talleres y temas a tratarse.
Details from: henrychangolopez@iwgb.co.uk
For the first time in UK history, a coalition of unions are coming together in a day of action against outsourcing. The demonstration will take place on 26 February, with marchers starting out at 8am from Senate House, the University of London’s Bloomsbury headquarters.
Outsourcing is one of the underhanded methods used by bosses for decades to drive down our employment conditions. By using middlemen in the form of outsourcing companies, employers are able to offer some workers far worse pay, holiday entitlements, sick pay and pension contributions.
But the abuse doesn’t stop there. The unaccountable nature of outsourcing companies means workers employed by them are much more likely to suffer from bullying and discrimination.
But we are fighting back. For the last few years outsourced workers have been doing what many thought impossible – organising and winning better rights at work. Now we are coming together for the first joint day of action against outsourcing.
The demonstration will coincide with the day the IWGB is facing the government and the University of London in a landmark case that turn outsourcing on its head.
If successful, the case could open the door for the UK’s 3.3 million outsourced workers to skip the middleman and negotiate directly with their de-facto employer, making it the greatest expansion of employment rights for UK workers in a generation.
This landmark national demo against outsourcing is organised by, IWGB, United Voices of the World, Public and Commercial Services BEIS Branch, and the Bakerloo and Finsbury Park branches of the Rail, Maritime & Transport Workers Union.
Independent Workers Union of Great Britain - Universities of London Branch 