The Independent Workers’ Union of Great Britain (IWGB) is challenging the decision by the Central Arbitration Committee (CAC) to not hear an application for trade union recognition that would broaden the rights of outsourced workers and introduce the concept of a “joint-employer” to the UK.

• IWGB is arguing that denying outsourced workers the right to collectively bargain with their de-facto employer, the University of London, is a breach of Article 11 of the European Convention on Human Rights
• The CAC refused to hear the application made by the IWGB in November
• If the challenge is successful, the High Court will force the CAC to hear the case

The claim for judicial review has been filed in the High Court and, if successful, would force the CAC to consider the union’s application.

In November, the IWGB brought a case to the CAC to require the University of London to recognise the union for the purposes of collective bargaining on behalf of some of its outsourced workers.

The law to date has been interpreted as only allowing workers to collectively bargain with their direct employer, in this case facilities management company Cordant Security. But, if successful, the test case would open the doors for workers throughout the UK to collectively bargain with their de-facto employer as well as their direct employer, introducing the concept of a joint-employer to UK law.

The IWGB is arguing that denying the outsourced workers the right to collectively bargain with the university, which is their de-facto employer, is a breach of article 11 of the European Convention on Human Rights.

The proposed collective bargaining unit would include security officers, porters and post room workers.

This case is trying to push the boundaries of employment law and make sure domestic law is keeping up with the requirements of the European Convention on Human Rights. Due to its groundbreaking nature, the IWGB expected that the matter would ultimately be decided by the appellate courts.

The case backed by The Good Law Project.

IWGB General Secretary Dr Jason Moyer-Lee said: “Low paid outsourced workers across the country routinely have their pay and terms and conditions decided by their de-facto employers, whose premises they clean or maintain. In this set-up the contractors are often little more than glorified middle men. For the collective bargaining rights of these low paid workers to mean anything, they must be able to negotiate with the actual decision maker.”

Good law Project founder Jolyon Maugham QC said “There are many ways bad employers dodge the cost of workers’ rights and outsourcing can be one of them. The treatment of workers with modest bargaining power and little influence, can be hidden from view, but it shouldn’t be hidden from the law through the use of faceless outsourcing companies. I’m proud to be supporting this case that will ensure that domestic law protects the human rights of some of the most vulnerable workers in the UK.”

Outsourced workers at the University of London have been campaigning since September to be made direct employees of the university and plan to stage the biggest ever outsourced workers strike in the history of UK higher education on 25 and 26 April.

-ENDS-

For more information, please contact Emiliano Mellino, IWGB press officer. Email: press@iwgb.co.uk

The IWGB has been in touch with the University over the ongoing leak at Stewart House reception, to flag up concerns raised by members of potential health and safety implications.

We received the following response today:

Having made enquiries I understand our maintenance teams have found a toilet had been blocked with what looks like clothing fabric jammed further down the soil stack causing the leak. Whilst Bouygues await their specialist drain maintenance company the leak has stopped having been made safe. Cordant have a cleaner attending every half hour.

If anyone does have further concerns please contact us at uol@iwgb.org.uk.

Members of the University and College Union (UCU) are currently voting on the latest proposals put forward by Universities UK (UUK) to end the nationwide industrial action against cuts to university staff pension benefits.

Ahead of the 13 April voting deadline, UCU has called an emergency general meeting for members wishing to discuss the e-ballot and the proposals. This will take place in Senate House, 10 April, room G4, 12–1pm. In the meantime, see here for a range of useful analysis of the Universities Superannuation Scheme (USS) pensions dispute written by academics in response to UUK’s 23 March proposal.

The vote

If members say YES to the proposal, UCU will suspend its immediate plans for industrial action, but keep the legal strike mandate live until the proposal is formally noted at the board of the USS.

If there is a NO vote, the next strike action scheduled for 23–27 April, which coincides with IWGB’s outsourced worker strikes on 25 and 26 April, will go ahead.

A further 14 days of industrial action is on the cards for May and June in almost all institutions, and there are plans for a fresh ballot of UCU members to escalate the action further in the autumn. Employers will be asked to improve their proposal so that it contains a ‘no detriment’ clause.

An overwhelming show of hands at the recent IWGB branch meeting confirmed its members’ commitment to continue their support for any UCU action should the current UUK offer be rejected.

We will be holding an organising meeting for all security officers working for CIS on Saturday 28 April at 1pm at the Institute of Advanced Legal Studies (17 Russell Square – see map here).

This will be:

• a chance to meet the IWGB General Secretary Jason Moyer-Lee and President Henry Chango Lopez and find out more about the union
• a chance to raise any issues and ask any questions
• a chance to elect reps for the CIS section of the branch, and plan how to recruit and organise your colleagues

The meeting will take place just before our branch AGM, in the same place, where you will get a chance to meet other members from across the University of London and hear all about what the branch has been doing for the last year!

If you are serious about wanting to improve conditions at UCL, you need to come to this meeting!

Any questions let Danny (dannymillum@iwgb.org.uk or 07783719479) know!

La rama de la Universidad de Londres de IWGB celebrará su asamblea general anual el sábado 28 de abril a las 2:00 de la tarde en el Institute of Advanced Legal Studies. ¡Habrá comida y bebida!

Ha sido un año increíble, con la que pronto será la victoriosa campaña In-house en Senate House, las huelgas masivas por las pensiones y ¡mucho mucho más!

Todos vosotros sabéis que nuestros sindicato es pequeño y depende del trabajo duro y la participación de sus miembros, así que es muy importante que acudáis para que:

• sepáis todo lo que la rama ha estado hacienda durante el último año
• elijáis a los oficiales para el próximo año
• selecciones a los delegados para la reunión general anual nacional
• conozcáis a otros miembros de otros sitios de trabajo diferente
• expreséis vuestras opiniones, hagáis preguntas, en general conozcáis como funciona el sindicato

Elecciones

Pincha aquí para ver la lista de los oficiales actuales– todos estos puestos estarán abiertos a una elección en la reunión general anual y cualquier miembro se puede presentar.

Todo lo que tienes que hacer es presentarte ese mismo día. Si hay más de un candidato/a, pediremos que hagáis un pequeño discurso a ambos/as y luego se hará una votación a mano alzada. Si hay más de un candidato/a para secretario/a de la rama o presidente/a, tenemos que tener una votación postal, ya que son posiciones nacionales.

Si tienes cualquier pregunta o estás interesado/a en presentante, no dudes en contactar con Danny (dannymillum@iwgb.org.uk)  o Rebecca (rebeccadooley@iwgb.org.uk).

Direcciones

Las estaciones de metro más cercanas son Russell Square con la Piccadilly line, Holborn con la Central line y Euston con la Northern y Victoria line.

Buses: 59, 168, 68, 188, 91

Pincha aquí para ver en mapa

The University of London branch of the IWGB will be holding its Annual General Meeting on Saturday 28 April at 2pm in the Institute of Advanced Legal Studies. Food and drink will be provided!

It’s been an unbelievable year, with the (soon to be) victorious in-house campaign at Senate House, the massive pensions strike and much much more!

All of you know our union is a small one which relies on the hard work and participation of members – so it’s really important to attend, so you can:

• find out everything the branch has been doing for the last year
• elect officers for the next year
• select delegates for the national AGM
• meet other members from different workplaces
• give feedback, ask questions, generally find out how the union works

Elections

See here for a list of current officers – all these posts will be open for election at the AGM, and any member can stand.

All you need to do is to put yourself forward on the day. If there’s more than one candidate, we’ll ask for a short statement from both and then have a show of hands. If there’s more than one candidate for branch secretary or chair, we need to have a postal ballot, as they are national positions.

If you’ve got any questions or are interested in applying, feel free to drop Danny (dannymillum@iwgb.org.uk) or Rebecca (rebeccadooley@iwgb.org.uk) a line.

Directions

Nearest stations on the London Underground are Russell Square on Piccadilly line, Holborn on Central line and Euston on the Northern and Victoria line.

Buses: 59, 168, 68, 188, 91

See here for a map.

Tim has asked us to invite all IWGB members to an all-staff meeting on pensions tomorrow – https://ucu.london.ac.uk/2018/03/20/22-mar-at-12pm-meeting-for-staff-pensions-dispute-update/

Please do come along if you can – it’s a good chance to get a full update on where we are now AND to ask any questions about what happens next!

I am also including his response (below) to the absurd USS email earlier this week – feel free to get back to me with any queries!

Cheers

Danny

Dear Members,

You’ve no doubt seen the email  from USS which can only be taken as an attempt to undermine the valid reasons why we’ve been striking and ignores why we’ve had to reject the agreement proposed earlier last week. In short, they’ve cherry-picked three of a mountain of issues and claimed fake news because of technicalities.

I will be contacting you later in the week but I just wanted to let you know that this message changes absolutely nothing. I don’t think I can put it better than the Governing Body of The Queen’s College, Oxford:

“The proposed agreement appears to have been negotiated within the constraints imposed by the recent valuation of the scheme’s deficit. To that extent, many will view it as akin to a rearrangement of deck-chairs on the Titanic. We welcome UUK’s efforts to establish an independent group to examine the valuation, and we also note the CEO of USS Ltd’s very recent comments on the funding position. He is undoubtedly correct to suggest that some aspects of the trustee’s position have been misunderstood; however, we nevertheless think there are legitimate concerns about the logic of the trustee’s ‘test 1’. These concerns are contributing to a widespread loss of confidence in the valuation, and there is a growing suspicion that the legislation in this area may be broken. We are certainly not convinced that a triennial valuation cycle, leading to what are now perceived as depressingly regular benefit reforms, is in anyone’s interests.

 We thus take the view that both UUK and USS are vulnerable to the criticism of approaching the current challenge the wrong way round: that is, it seems odd to contemplate such substantial benefit reform now when the calculation of the scheme’s deficit is the subject of legitimate enquiry and controversy. While we appreciate that the statutory deadline associated with the valuation is very near, we would hope that the Pensions Regulator might be pragmatic in its approach to the difficulties that have been encountered. Otherwise we face a potentially very damaging outcome that will be quite contrary to the interests of all parties, and manifestly at odds with the public policy considerations that underpin the relevant legislation.”

All we’re saying is that UUK and USS had an opportunity to properly address the scheme this time around and they chose to squander it with frankly unscrupulous practices around surveying universities for questionable intentions to manufacture a result that would enforce this draconian measure on the quality of our retirement.

Please forgive me for my angry tone (angry for me, anyway) but there have been an good number of your colleagues who’ve sacrificed a lot to get the truth out.

All the best,

Tim.