In 2019 after an IWGB campaign, UCL management gave outsourced cleaners, porters & security officers equal sick pay, holidays, parental leave and pensions to direct employees after we had worked for years under much inferior terms and conditions. Now we are fighting to end outsourcing for good and for full equality and fair pay.

Why should you support the campaign to end outsourcing at UCL?

For an end to precarity: Many cleaners and catering staff at UCL continue to be employed on zero hours contracts. Sodexo, UCL’s cleaning subcontractor, has kept some cleaners on 3-month contracts for years. Security officers have been robbed of their holidays by UCL’s security subcontractor Bidvest Noonan. In 2023, Bidvest Noonan launched an attack on the jobs of unionised security guards at the university. They cut jobs, hours, and downgraded workers’ terms and conditions. Redundancies and significant cuts to hours – borne especially by active union members – were followed by recruitment of new security staff and an increase in the number of agency security guards on campus. Agency workers are on zero-hours contracts and are paid even less than Bidvest Noonan staff. The redundancy process was clearly a sham. These sorts of problems have been consistent across every subcontractor UCL has used. The problem is outsourcing. Now is the time for UCL to bring us in-house and end precarity for outsourced staff.

For an end to discrimination: The vast majority of outsourced workers are black, Asian, Latin American or from other racially marginalised groups. We make UCL run smoothly every day, yet we continue to be denied the employment rights that other UCL employees take for granted. We face frequent issues of bullying and abuse, for which there is rarely accountability because we are not seen as UCL’s problem. Our employers keep trying to introduce invasive measures like biometric signing in, which no other UCL employee faces. This is a two-tier system. It must end.

For fair pay: Over a decade ago, before UCL outsourced this workforce, UCL security staff were paid over £15 per hour. This was a decent wage that allowed staff to have dignified lives outside of work. However, as a result of outsourcing, pay has declined over the years for all outsourced staff at UCL. Outsourced cleaners are on around £13/hr, security are mostly between £14-14.50/hr. Most in-house staff are paid much more than this. This is not only unequal, but also increasingly difficult for us as life gets harder at the moment. We are currently facing a cost of living crisis and it is harder and harder to get by and support our families. We demand to be brought in house with fair pay. Cleaners, porters and security must all get a dignified wage of at least £17 per hour.

Despite being one of the richest universities in the country, UCL continues to treat the mostly Black, Asian, and Latin American outsourced workforce as second class workers, denying us many of the basic employment rights that all other UCL employees take for granted. It is time for UCL to end outsourcing!

UCL’s cleaners, porters and security staff are demanding UCL end outsourcing, pay workers fairly and recognise the IWGB union.

Want to support our campaign or get involved?

If you study or work at UCL and want to support our campaign, please get in touch at uolsec@iwgb.co.uk to find out how you can get involved.

You can find out more about our campaigns and the action we’ve taken here:

University Forced to Back Down After ‘Rogue’ Outsourcing Company Tries to Ban Protest

Hundreds of security guards at UCL told to reapply for jobs and face £13,000 pay cut, union says

Striking UCL and St Mungo’s workers unite in City of London protests

University College London security staff begin strike over pay

UCL strike: Outsourced workers to walk out in protest over ‘bullying and discrimination’

UCL workers to decide on strike action over ‘unjust’ outsourcing

Injustice at UCL: Stories of the Outsourced