There’s a very comprehensive write up of the recent history of our campaigns with Deliveroo and Citysprint:
Breaking news! The IWGB has been contacted by the conciliation service ACAS on behalf of Cordant, who have enquired about the possibility of opening negotations over the security officers pay dispute.
General Secretary Jason Moyer-Lee stated that the IWGB welcomed negotiations, as long as Cordant ‘brought their cheque book’.
Watch this space!
We have some major news on the gig-economy and Deliveroo: A tribunal has set a date to decide the employment status of Deliveroo riders, a decision which will be as important if not more important than the Uber decision of some months back.
This will have major implications for both UK employment law and future decisions on the so-called gig-economy, as well as on Deliveroo’s business model.
Saying we are very confident that the tribunal will rule in our favour and determine the riders are workers is an understatement. Our press release is below.
Tribunal to determine Deliveroo riders’ employment status in May hearings
The Central Arbitration Committee (CAC), the tribunal that oversees the regulation of UK collective bargaining law, will determine the employment status of Deliveroo riders, in what could turn out to be a landmark ruling for the so-called gig-economy with national implications for Deliveroo.
The tribunal will look at whether Deliveroo riders are workers or independent contractors, the status under which Deliveroo bogusly classes them currently, in hearings to take place on 24 and 25 May.
The Independent Workers’ Union of Great Britain (IWGB) is confident the tribunal will rule that the riders are workers, following on from similar decisions by the central London employment tribunal with regards to CitySprint couriers and Uber drivers.
The IWGB applied in November for the tribunal to determine the riders’ employment status and to force the company to recognise the union for the purposes of collective bargaining on behalf of riders working in the Camden area in London.
The CAC has informed the union that if the riders are ruled to be workers it will decide issues related to the bargaining unit in later hearings.
Leading trade union barrister John Hendy QC and Leigh Day are acting for the IWGB in the case.
“For years employers in the so-called gig economy have been able to get away with unlawfully depriving their workers of employment rights to which they are legally entitled. The chickens are now coming home to roost,“ said IWGB General Secretary Jason Moyer-Lee. “In this tribunal hearing we intend to expose Deliveroo’s sham operations and force them to finally reckon with the rule of law.”
The union represents Deliveroo riders in London and Brighton, where there is an ongoing campaign to push the company to increase the “drop rate”, the amount each driver is paid per delivery, from £4 to £5.
The Brighton campaign has so far gathered support from the Shadow Chancellor John McDonnell, Green Party Co-leader and Brighton Pavilion MP Caroline Lucas, as well as several branches of other trade unions and local Labour party branches.
A petition on Care2 asking the company to increase riders’ pay has also gathered around 25,000 signatures.
For more information:
Dr Jason Moyer-Lee, IWGB General Secretary
07771783094
IWGB today notified Cordant that the union will be balloting its security officer members for strike action. Below is the press release:
University of London Security officers could go on strike shortly, as their union has today given notice of ballot for industrial action.
The Independent Workers Union of Great Britain (IWGB) is demanding an end to zero-hour contracts, proper itemised payslips, and a 25% increase in pay for all security officers, increasing the salary of the lowest paid officer to around £12 an hour.
While the pay of other workers at the university has increased in recent years that of security officers has stagnated, breaking a commitment the University had made in 2011 to maintain pay differentials between different types of workers.
Cordant, the company that has the contract for the provision of security officers in the University of London’s central administration buildings, has so far been unwilling to negotiate with the IWGB on the matter of pay.
The union invites Cordant to return to the negotiating table to avoid causing disruption to the lives of the students, the security officers and other staff.
The IWGB is confident members will vote in favour of strike action.
“We are determined to take industrial action, which has been caused by the university and Cordant breaking their promise,” says University of London security officer and IWGB representative Abdul Bakhsh “We do not want to disrupt the lives of students, who we are here to help, but we feel we cannot do our job properly if the University doesn’t keep its promises.”
The strike would affect the vast majority of the around 50 security officers that look after Senate House, Stewart House, the Institute for Advanced Legal Studies, Student Central (formerly University of London Student Union), the Warburg Institute and five halls of residence: Nutford House, Lilian Penson, Connaught Hall, College Hall and International Hall.
The IWGB is a campaigning union, which has waged a number of high profile campaigns such as for the London Living Wage at the Royal Opera House and at John Lewis, and the 3 Cosas Campaign (sick pay, holidays, and pensions) at the University of London. Other campaigns have been waged over bullying and harassment as well as improved pay for university employees (London Weighting).
For more information:
Dr Jason Moyer-Lee, IWGB General Secretary
Jasonmoyer-lee@iwgb.co.uk
07771783094
After an extended pause in its restructure, University caterer Aramark has this week imposed a new revised structure on staff. While there have been some changes, unnecessary redundancies are still planned. The IWGB has written to Aramark and the University to oppose these:
Dear Viv
We have now seen the minutes of Monday’s meeting.
It is clear from these that Aramark and the University of London intend to press on with a number of completely avoidable ‘redundancies’.
- None of the questions raised in our initial response have been answered.
- No business case has been provided.
- No justification has been given for why this restructure could not wait for the opening of new café.
- No exploration of the impact of these changes on staff with protected characteristics has been attempted.
- No recognition has been made of the negative impact the absence of a café supervisor has already had
- No attempt has been made to halt the spread of zero-hours contracts at the University of London.
The law is clear that avoidable job losses are not redundancies at all.
Should these plans go ahead, we will advise our members that they have strong claims for unfair and/or constructive dismissal.
Best wishes
Danny
Danny Millum
Treasurer
IWGB
One of the reasons that IWGB’s strikes at the University of London have been so successful is that we’re able to get a very high proportion of members out onto the picket line. This is mainly due to the mass support the union enjoys, but our strike fund has been a great help in turning support into participation.
When workers strike they lose pay, so the ability to participate in strike action is often dependent on a worker’s financial situation. The result is that strikes for the lowest paid workers are often poorly attended, despite their need for better conditions being more urgent!
IWGB is proud to have supported members on strike by paying wages from our strike fund, but we need your help to make sure we can do it again. Our security guards have entered into formal dispute with their employer, Cordant, and we’ll be balloting for strike action soon.
We don’t take industrial action lightly, and we hope that Cordant improves the security guards’ pay and enables us to end our dispute. But we will strike if we have to. Our fighting fund is low, and any donations you can offer would greatly help our cause.
Please donate using PayPal – anything you can give will help!
Last night we attended the launch of Leo Zeilig’s new novel, An Ounce of Practice (Hope Road Press) – the novel is set amid an outsourced workers’ campaign, and draws heavily on Leo’s involvement in 3 Cosas.
As well as a kind introduction by Philip Murphy and words from his editor, Leo also gave the floor to Comandante Robinson, who gave a rousing account of the early days of IWGB (expertly translated by Camila) and Danny, who brought the audience up to date on the latest campaign around security guards’ pay differentials.
Congratulations to Leo for a great launch – we look forward to reading it!
You can find out more about the book here: http://www.hoperoadpublishing.com/an-ounce-of-practice
Photos: Philip Murphy
IWGB General Secretary Jason Moyer-Lee has written to Cordant to serve notice that we are now in formal dispute, and to inform them that we will shortly be serving notice of our intention to ballot our security guard members for industrial action.
This follows Cordant’s failure to meet the IWGB’s demand that security officer pay differentials be restored to their 2011 levels.
Ballots have to be sent by post, so it is vitally important that we make sure that we have an up-to-date postal address for all members – please contact Danny (dannymillum@iwgb.org.uk) to confirm your address is the same as the one on our database.
The IWGB is calling on all members to vote YES for strike action! A strong YES vote will show Cordant that we are serious, and that we are prepared to strike if they do not come up with a fair offer!
Mmebers with any questions should email abdul.bakhsh@outlook.com.
If you would like to support the strike, you can do one simple thing to help ensure it’s a success. In previous IWGB stikes, we’ve been able to pay striking workers from our strike fund. Having a strike fund means that members who can’t afford to lose pay will still be able to participate in the strike. Our fund is sadly depleted – which is where you come in! Please donate to the IWGB UoL Security Guards Strike Fund and help our members to win better pay.
Our next branch meeting is taking place this Friday 24 February in the IHR
Mezzanine, 3rd Floor Senate House at 12.30.
Amongst other things, we will be discussing:
* Security guards strike update
* Aramark
* Asbestos update
Independent Workers Union of Great Britain - Universities of London Branch 