Campaigns to end outsourcing at UCL continue
Source: UCL UNISON
Aliy Faisal reports on the campaign to end outsourcing of workers at UCL.
Campaigns to bring outsourced staff at UCL back in-house are finally making headway. Two trade unions are organising to bring workers in-house: the long established, primarily public-sector union, UNISON, which has a recognition agreement with the university, and the smaller IWGB, whose base is made up of independent gig-economy workers.
According to UNISON and IGWB, approximately 900 of the lowest-paid workers at UCL — who are disproportionately women, migrants, or from black and other minority ethnicities — are hired by outsourcing companies on contracts which give them the legal minimum employment rights. Cleaning, catering, and security staff at UCL are not directly employed by the university; instead, contracts for these services are given to multinational corporations like Sodexo and Axis, who then hire workers for wages far inferior to those of in-house workers.
Staff employed directly by the university get almost 50% more holidays throughout the year, with more annual, maternity and paternity leave available to them. Staff hired by outsourcing firms receive little to no sick pay, and often choose to come to work sick as they receive no pay for the first three days of sickness. The outsourced staff’s pension schemes are also much more meagre than those of their colleagues employed by UCL.
Recently, Sodexo staff were given letters stating that “they should not speak to the press” and that they may breach company policy if they speak about their working conditions. “UCL would not be able to function without its cleaners, porters and security officers, however, for years the university and its contractors have been happy to treat them like second class workers. They are overworked, underpaid and mistreated, while UCL is happy to look the other way when issues are raised about the abject failure of its contractors to treat people with basic dignity,” says former UCL cleaner and current chair of the University of London IWGB branch, Maritza Castillo Calle.
Photography by Aliy Faisal
Pi News spoke to Colum Mc Dermott, a UNISON steward activist whose own job was outsourced to Sodexo two years ago, after he had worked for UCL for 18 years. He described how he and his colleagues — many of whom had been working at the university for even longer than him — felt they had been thrown under the bus, and had their identity as employees of the university ripped from them. Privileges they had enjoyed previously, such as access to the university library and part-time courses, are no longer available to them.
As a former employee of the university, McDermott’s own terms and conditions of employment were protected due to the Transfer of Undertakings (Protection of Employment) Regulations 2006. This legislation protects employees conditions when the ownership of a business is being transferred. It was weakened under the coalition government as more public sector jobs were outsourced to the private sector, so new employees are hired under far inferior terms. Despite doing the same job, they receive less pay and benefits, creating a two-tier system in the workplace.
UNISON’s campaign #BringThemIn launched in December 2018 and it has already had productive negotiations with the university administration. UNISON held a protest in the Main Quad on 17th October, at which workers shared their experiences and UNISON’s General Secretary, Dave Prentis, spoke about how the union is winning similar battles across the public sector. UNISON has around 400 members among the outsourced workers at UCL and their campaign is backed by Labour’s Jeremy Corbyn, Keir Starmer QC (Shadow Brexit Secretary and MP for Holborn and St Pancras), Angela Rayner MP (Shadow Education Secretary) and the UCL Labour Society.
Source: UCL UNISON
Following the protest, it was announced on the 21st of October that the University has committed to giving outsourced workers parity of terms with direct employees by August 2021, with the earliest improvement for workers being an increase in their holiday allowance at the end of this year. In a statement UCL Provost Michael Arthur said: “Our colleagues working in security, cleaning and catering fulfil essential roles at UCL, on which we all depend…We will continue to listen and respond to concerns raised by our community.”
UNISON say they will continue negotiations with the university to make sure the changes are brought about as soon as possible, and for the staff to be brought in-house. The likelihood of the staff being brought in-house is much higher when they are on equal terms, because there is no gain for the university from giving contracts to outsourcing companies: all the physical assets at UCL (such as kitchen equipment) already belong to the university.
After receiving a dismissive response from the university administration — the university’s position is that they will only negotiate with UNISON — the IWGB campaign #EndOutsourcingNow began balloting their members (numbering around 300) on whether to call a strike to demand that outsourcing companies give staff the same rights as UCL’s employees. As of the time of publishing, their campaign is still going ahead. They believe the university could expedite this process, and they also want staff to be bought in-house so their contracts are future-proofed against any change in contract holder. IWGB will be holding a protest on 29th October in support of their members.
The success of this campaign reflects the story across London: at SOAS staff have been brought back in-house, and at Goldsmiths, Birkbeck and KCL the pledge to bring staff back in-house has been made. IWGB’s campaign to bring in outsourced workers at Senate House is also underway and as an act of solidarity, over 400 academics and 23 UCU (University and College Union) branches have pledged to boycott Senate House until all outsourced workers are made direct employees of the University of London, on equal terms with other staff.
Students’ Union UCL has passed a motion declaring their belief that the current situation is wrong and unjust, and that precarious work is an issue that everyone — including students — should be concerned with. In the motion of October 2018, they resolved to support and promote the IWGB campaign, including fundraising for a workers’ strike fund should a strike take place.