Yesterday’s strike by IWGB workers at the University of London was a huge success, with a massive turnout on the picket line of striking workers and supporters. Senate House library was completely closed, and many deliveries were turned away by the picket.
The strike continues today – please come down to Senate House any time before 3 and show your support!
See more pictures and details at https://www.facebook.com/3coca.
Join us on the picket lines on Wednesday 6am-1pm and Thursday 6am-3pm! We’ll be gathering at the Russell Square entrance to Senate House.
There will be a carnival feel, with music, food and flags. Come along! Bring banners from your trade union, SU, or campaign.
There will be speeches from the workers and campaign supporters throughout the day.
There will also be a demonstration at the University of London’s Foundation Day at 6pm on Wednesday.
Contact: jasonmoyer-lee@iwgb.org.uk or 07771783094 or 07840136728
Our next branch meeting will be held on Monday 25 November at 1pm in room S16, Institute of Education.
Please come if you can – we will be planning for the strike on Wednesday and Thursday, and discussing the outcome of the talks with BBW planned for Friday.
If you have any questions, or suggestions for the agenda, please contact Jason (JasonMoyer-Lee@iwgb.org.uk or call 07771783094).
Outsourced IWGB members working for Balfour Beatty Workplace (BBW) at the University of London have voted overwhelmingly for strike action as they pursue their goals of recognition, protection for Garden Halls workers and the 3 Cosas.
The ballot results, published today, show a massive 97% vote in favour of strike action, on a huge 70% turnout.
The first days of action have been called for Wednesday 27 November and Thursday 28 November, the first of these being Foundation Day at the University of London, the traditional event when the Chancellor Princess Anne bestows honorary degrees on the great and good.
IWGB Vice-Chair Sonia Chura was resolute, declaring that ‘The ballot results are positive and excellent. 97% in favour of the strike. We workers are firmly demonstrating that we are united in our cause’. She once again stressed that the IWGB was still willing to negotiate, but warned that time was now growing short if BBW were to avoid inflicting massive disruption on the University, its staff and its students.
Please donate to the strike fund – as low-paid workers already on the breadline, we will inevitably be affected more than most by the loss of earnings which a strike entails. 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 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!
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.
Independent Workers Union of Great Britain - Universities of London Branch 