Independent Workers Union of Great Britain – Universities of London Branch

The IWGB’s Saturday morning English classes are going well, with a room full of eager and almost-on-time students there to welcome back our Education Officer and pedagogue supreme Usman Tayyab.

We still have room for a few more students, but the last day for registration is this Saturday 8 November, so please pass this message onto anyone you think might be interested.

The course will run (with holidays) until March, classes take place every Saturday in the union office at 80 Lamb’s Conduit Street between 10 and 1, and the cost for IWGB members is just a £20 deposit, refundable with sufficient attendance.

Any enquiries please call or text 07786087722.

The IWGB has received confirmation from Aramark, the University of London’s catering contractor, that it will be implementing the new London Living Wage increase with immediate effect.

As a consequence, no member catering staff will receive less than £9.15 an hour dating from 3 November 2014.

Before the introduction of the LLW in 2012, many outsourced staff were on little more than the minimum wage, which today stands at £6.50 an hour.

Good news for the lowest-paid workers at Senate House, as the London Living Wage increase announced today means no in-house or outsourced employee at the University of London will get less than £9.15 an hour once it is implemented here.

The main beneficiaries will be Cofely and Aramark staff, and the IWGB will be writing to these companies to ensure the new wage is introduced immediately.

The wage – the amount needed to cover the basic costs of living – has increased by 4% on the current £8.80. Outside London, the Living Wage will rise 20p to £7.85.

In the capital, more than 400 companies have been accredited and have signed up to the voluntary scheme.

About 634,000 people employed in London earned less than the new rate in 2013, a report by KPMG estimates.

The wage, which is calculated each year by the Greater London Authority, is designed to tackle the problem of “in-work poverty”.

We’re happy to announce that, thanks to our new scheme working in tandem with local law schools, we now have a whole host of new caseworkers solely dedicated to helping University of London members.

Our six new recruits are all either law students, or have an undergraduate degree in law, and at least one of them will be available in the office every weekday from 9 to 5.

If you have any issue at work that you think you will need help or advice with, just email us at uol@iwgb.org.uk and someone will get back to you right away.

Union meeting today to discuss London Weighting

• Read more about Union meeting today to discuss London Weighting

Please come along to the monthly branch meeting this Friday 24 October.

We will be holding a split meeting, to fit with different people’s timetables, and so please just come to whichever meeting suits you best.

The first will take place in room S16, Institute of Education, 12.30-1.30.

The second will be in the union office, 80 Lamb’s Conduit Street, 3.00 to 4.00pm.

Any questions just drop us a line uol@iwgb.org.uk.

We’ll be discussing London Weighting, English classes and more.

We’ve got a whole bunch of people helping out at the moment via our volunteer programme – taking on case work, preparing court claims, producing posters, meeting members, applying for grants and generally helping massively with all the stuff that needs to be done to keep a union going!

To show our appreciation, we’ll be having a small party for them on Friday between 3pm and 8pm, at our office (80 Lamb’s Conduits Street). There will be wine. And other refreshments…

Everyone is welcome – it would be great if you were able to stop in for a quick drink after work and say hello.

Any questions – give Catherine (catherinemorrissey@iwgb.org.uk) or Henry (henrychangolopez@iwgb.org.uk) a shout…