Workers' Notes: London strikes!

 by New Worker correspondent

At Heathrow Airport Easter is being marked by 10 days of strike action by over 1,400 security officers. The strike went ahead after unsuccessful pay talks. At present, the average salary of a Heathrow security guard, working endless shifts, is £30,000, of which £26,000 is the basic after three years experience, with a £4,000 shift allowance. Unite the union reckons that in real-terms this is 24 per cent less than in 2017. Heathrow Airport Limited (HAL) refused to substantially improve its pay offer and only offered a lump sum payment as an addition to the current offer.
    At the same time, HAL CEO John Holland-Kaye had an 88 per cent pay rise, which he surely deserved as in 2020 he was only on £800,000 and desperately needed a more reasonable £1.5 million. He had a hard time during the pandemic when he was energetically firing and rehiring its entire workforce, resulting in most workers suffering serious pay cuts.
    This sum he earned because of the huge £2.1 billion in dividends he paid out to such deserving cases as Spanish infrastructure company Ferrovial, the Qatar’s sovereign wealth fund, and the Qatar Investment Authority.
    Unite General Secretary Sharon Graham said: “Heathrow can afford to pay a decent pay rise to its workers. This is a wealthy company which is about to return to bumper profits. In recent years it’s approved an astronomical rise in salary for its CEO and paid out dividends to shareholders worth billions. Yet somehow Heathrow executives seem to think it’s acceptable to offer what amounts to a real-terms pay cut to its security guards and ground staff who are already on poverty pay.”
    Wayne King, a regional co-ordinating officer, added that: “Heathrow Airport has thrown away the opportunity to avoid strikes. Unite went into today’s meeting looking for an offer our members could accept. Unfortunately it seems HAL went in with no intention of avoiding industrial action.”
    The strikes affects Terminal Five, which is British Airways private terminal, and the security guards, who are responsible for checking all cargo.

Outsourcing Battles

The pay struggle continues, meanwhile, for ‘outsourced’ workers. On London’s Docklands Light Railway (DLR), contracted-out staff working for ISS and belonging to transport union RMT walked out on 48-hours strike last weekend.
    The workers involved in revenue protection, cleaning and security have rejected a pathetic 1.8 per cent pay offer, much lower than the rate for directly employed Transport for London (TfL) staff who perform equivalent roles. Despite promises from London Mayor Sadiq Khan, ISS staff have also not secured free travel, which other TfL workers have.
    RMT General Secretary Mick Lynch said: “ISS are a multimillion-pound company whose arrogance knows no bounds. They already pay staff poorly and with inflation rapidly increasing an offer of 1.8 per cent shows they do not care one jot for their staff.”
    “RMT will continue their campaign for pay justice for these workers who are some of the most exploited in the transport system…ultimately Mayor Sadiq Khan needs to end the injustice of exploitation of contracted-out staff by bringing these workers back in house as soon as possible.”
    Also in London, outsourced cleaners at the Great Ormond Street Hospital For Children (GOSH) are undertaking a collective legal action against outsourcing, claiming compensation for past injustices.
    The court case by 80 largely migrant workers was brought by the small street union United Voices of the World (UVW), which points out that for decades the cleaners were outsourced on lesser terms and conditions than other directly employed GOSH workers. This led to a dispute between UVW and GOSH at the start of the pandemic that saw UVW force the hospital to abandon its cleaning private contractor and employ the workers directly as NHS employees. The recently concluded UVW action, if successful, could net each claimant between £80,000–£190,000. A decision is expected later this month. UVW say it is similar to a case it brought against the Royal Parks in late 2021, when outsourced Royal Park attendants at won an Employment Tribunal case that ruled their lower pay was unlawful because it amounted to indirect race discrimination. This case was contested by the Government who feared it setting a bad example.
    Not far from GOSH, in Oxford Street, London’s longest shopping street, outsourced cleaners organised by another small union, the Independent Workers’ Union of Great Britain (IWGB), took over the offices of mobile phone company Vodafone early last month.
    They are employed by subcontractor Mitie, whose low wages are matched by overwork, a lack of company sick pay, and victimisation for those who complain.
    Some cleaners faced disciplinary action from Mitie for turning down extra responsibilities beyond their job description after many redundancies of catering staff were made during the pandemic. Mitie did well from Covid, with profits rising 187 per cent to £167 million on the back of short-term Covid-related contracts.
    Last year cleaners won the London Living Wage at Vodafone buildings nationally and forced them to hire new staff, which partly reduced overwork.
    An eight-year veteran of cleaning the Vodafone HQ said: “I risked my life cleaning throughout the pandemic for £8.93 an hour, and had to take 10 days off without proper sick pay when I got COVID‑19. We need better sick pay. We need management to replace cleaners who leave or take holidays, so we’re not faced with excessive workloads. It's time for fewer meetings and more action from both Mitie and Vodafone.”
    IWGB General Secretary Henry Chango Lopez attacked Vodafone because: “Pretending concern for employee welfare whilst exploiting their outsourced migrant workers for poverty pay is shameless hypocrisy. They make billions in profit but deny their cleaners’ calls for basic rights like a proper sick pay. Mitie management have attempted to shut down the workers fighting back by victimising them and threatening them with blacklisting, but we will campaign alongside them until they get justice.”

On the street;...

by New Worker correspondent

Outsourcing was one of the issues exercising the security guards employed by Bidvest Noonan belonging to the small street union, the Independent Workers Union of Great Britain (IWGB) at University College London (UCL) who joined in the massive day of strike action on Wednesday 1 February.
    In addition to a demand for a £15.00 hourly rate (which is the equivalent to that paid in 2002), they are seeking an end to outsourcing, and union recognition. In October UCL attempted to break a IWGB strike by employing subcontracting workers on a lower rate of pay in an attempt to break the last IWGB strike, despite running a £90 million yearly surplus.
This was condemned by University and College Union and the IWGB as an intimidatory strike breaking tactic and as a violation of UCL’s theoretical commitment to parity on account of these workers receiving lower rates of pay.
    The IWGB states that commitment to parity of terms and conditions with directly employed staff was won following IWGB strike action in 2019, while this resulted in improved pay, pension contributions and sick pay and annual leave entitlements full equality has not been achieved.
    Matteo Tiratelli, UCU’s Anti-Casualisation Officer at UCL added: “Outsourcing creates terrible working conditions for workers on the lowest grades at UCL, yet UCL management is determined to keep up this discriminatory practice. It is one of several ways in which working conditions are being worsened across the board. All staff at UCL are seeing our pay fall behind inflation, our jobs casualised and rights stripped away, and it is sadly not just staff, but students who are paying the price.”
    Yusuf Nur, a striking security guard, says: “I have young children and on the poverty pay I receive as an outsourced worker I am struggling to support them. I’ve been left with no choice but to strike - it’s the only way we can make our voices heard. After bullying, mistreatment and consistent basic errors with paying us our wages and pensions from Bidvest Noonan and neglect from UCL, we must fight for better conditions for each other and our families.”
The same union also claims victory in one of the north London borough of Barnet, which for two decades was held up as model of economical outsourcing by the Tory controlled council, who outsourced just about anything that was not nailed down.
    Now under Labour control, 330 affected workers presently employed by outsourcing multinational Capita, (or Crapita to Private Eye readers) will be brought back in-house from 1 April.
    2012 saw the Tory council hand over much of its services to Capita on decade-long contracts. Capita lived up to its nickname, with a decade of controversies including a multi-million-pound fraud and contracts running vastly over budget.
    After the May elections Labour won control of the council, and although the contracts had already been due to end next year, the council has fast-tracked plans to bring some services back in house.
    John Burgess, the union’s Barnet local government branch secretary declared: “This is good news for staff, good news for residents and good news for the services. I welcome the decision and look forward to welcoming back all the services back into Barnet Council where they all belong”.
    He pointed out that after a decade of campaigning, and a start to bringing services in-house: “there are still many issues to address for our members who are being TUPE’d”.
    “These include workplace inequalities such as staff being paid differently for the same role. Barnet UNISON is already seeking discussions with the council about harmonisation of the terms and conditions of the TUPE’d workforce”.
    Another strike involving outsourced workers is taking place in the north-west London borough of Hounslow whose most lovable of workers, Parking Enforcement Officers, started a strike which could last until 5 March.
    Employed by giant outsourcer Serco who last declared profits of £309.9 million, they are fighting for decent pay.
    Neighbouring boroughs Ealing and Brent councils recently conceded a pay rise after strike action. Civil enforcement officers and CCTV operators in Ealing received a 9 per cent rise pay increase back dated to April 2022 with low paid new starters getting 11.94 per cent, with another eight per cent from next April, and extra annual leave entitlement. In comparison, in Brent, workers are getting a total increase of pay rise of 10.7 per cent from last April with nine per cent to come in April.
    Unite’s general secretary, Sharon Graham said: “Serco and Hounslow council’s refusal to address the scourge of low pay is shameful. The truth is that the London Living Wage is not enough to live on. Serco is hugely wealthy. The Council and its outsourcer have the ability to pay workers more.
    “The strike will inevitably mean that parking restrictions across the borough will fall apart. Bosses need to realise the workers have Unite’s total support.”

The fight-back in London

Bexley

In the south London borough of Bexley another group of binmen are making progress in their dispute over pay and working conditions.
    Talks between contractors Countrystyle Recycling and Unite are taking place at conciliation service ACAS, which has enabled Unite to call off a planned three week strike which was set to continue until Friday 19th August.
    Unite acting national officer Clare Keogh said: “Following extensive negotiations held at Acas, sufficient progress was made to allow Unite to suspend strike action.
    “It is hoped that during further in-depth negotiations the remaining outstanding issues can be resolved and a satisfactory resolution to the dispute reached.” But the union warned that if the resulting offer is unacceptable strike action will resume on Saturday 20th August.
    The 100 binmen involved have already been on strike in the middle of last month, Countrystyle Recycling had taken over the contract in October.
    Unite accuses Countrystyle of offering “a below-inflation pay deal” to scrap a long-standing “job and finish” clause in their contracts. Regional officer Tabusam Ahmed added: “Our members are rightly asking for a pay rise that keeps up with rocketing prices. In response, Countrystyle is trying to punish them by scrapping a long-standing agreement”.

London School of Hygiene &Tropical Medicine 

Another long standing dispute involving cleaners and other support staff is that at the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine led by the small street union, the Independent Workers of Great Britain (IWGB). The largely migrant workforce have recently won a long battle to become directly employed by the School, which is part of the University of London. However they face other battles because while the union represents the majority of support workers the School still refuses to recognise the union.
    The IWGB workers have long suffered under a two-tier system which means they have fewer rights and worse terms and conditions than directly employed colleagues. One example was that during the pandemic they were not entitled to proper sick pay.
    Last August the School finally agreed to bring the support workers in-house and end the discrimination, but this has yet to be fully implemented.
    However the devil is in the detail, as the IWGB branch soon found that Management goodwill was short-lived. They objected to actual workers, rather than IWGB officials attending meetings, and the approach to these regular meetings with the trade union was shocking. No agendas were prepared and the vital issue of (very low) pay was not to be discussed.
    In March the School’s Director said that he would only stick to the letter of TUPE regulations and would not bring workers onto even the lowest grade on the School’s pay scale of £11.30 an hour.
    IWGB demands that its members, who presently get £11.05 per hour, which is below the lowest grade on the university pay scale, are brought onto the School’s Pay Grade 3 (£14.50), the grade that similar staff are on. Instead the School is negotiating pay with Unison, which does not represent the workers and has ignored IWGB’s grading demands.
    In April a lively protest about these issues outside the School, at which a petition was handed in, was met by Management calling the police, who speedily decided there was no cause for action.
    Management soon took revenge. After the protest four workers were suspended by the subcontractor Samsic for taking part in the protest, with others later suspended for taking part in union meetings, IWGB thinks this may have been at the School’s orders and the union is now submitting a tribunal detriment and blacklisting claim against Samsic.
    The IWGB strongly refutes Management claims that the April protest was violent and intimidating. It also complains that it is denying the union details of their plans to bring them in-house.
    Strike action finally took place last month, with a promise of more to come. Before the strike workers faced repeated illegal attempts to intimidate workers including threats to cancel annual leave already booked.
    During July’s strike Samsic made use of agency workers to cover the strikers’ shift. This, IWGB say “is a criminal offence, under Regulation 7 of the Conduct of Employment Agencies and Employment Business Regulations 2003”. Two IWGB officials entered the foyer of the building to report this to the security manager and to flag that this was a serious criminal offence and should be stopped immediately. The security manager called the police.
    LSHTM management claims, without evidence that the IWGB has “verbally abused and threatened at work” the reception staff. However 126 scientists, including past and present members of staff, support the action and accuse Management of tarnishing the reputation of the School. They demand that management meet “essential workers’ demands of fair treatment and pay” and “the immediate annulation of disciplinary sanctions faced by some workers engaged in union activities and campaigns.”
    One of those supporting the workers is Kings College London lecturer in global health and School graduate, Sabah Boufkhed, who says: “Our academic and global health community has taken a stand with less privileged colleagues who have organised themselves to address their poor labour conditions. We know from the research we do that these conditions are a major determinant of health. I hope that LSHTM’s senior management will immediately address the situation and make a step towards addressing causes of health and social inequities within their own premises.”

Battersea

South of the river, in Battersea, another union recognition battle is being fought by another small street union. This is at the Latchmere Leisure Centre in Battersea, where the United Voices of Workers (UVW) have applied to the Central Arbitration Committee for statutory recognition.
    Here the largely Bolivian cleaners, are demanding to be paid the London Living Wage instead of what they get which is just a few pennies above the lower Minimum Living Wage. They also complain that they currently only get the legal minimum statutory sick pay and they are demanding a full sick pay scheme.
    Juan Jiménez Yanez, one of the cleaners and UVW members, said: “We, the workers of Latchmere Leisure Centre, are almost on the minimum wage and we are asking for a pay rise. We want the London Living Wage (LLW) and we ask for the support of all our fellow workers to support us in our cause. Keep up the fight comrades!”
The centre is owned by Wandsworth Council, who pay £3.7 million a year to Places for People Leisure Management (PPLM), to run its leisure centres on their behalf. The lifetime cost of the contract with PPLM is £22 million

    PPLM’s parent company, Places for People (PfP) is actually one of the UK’s largest private housing associations with more than £4.9 billion in assets and is landlord over 220,000 owned or managed homes in addition to managing 108 leisure facilities across the country.
    PfP made a pre-tax profit of nearly £80 million last year with £700 million in reserve, yet only pays cleaners at Latchmere five pence more than the £9.50 minimum wage.
    Labour won the local elections in Wandsworth this year ending years of Tory rule in the borough. And Simon Hogg, the leader of Wandsworth’s new Labour Council, says: “there is no moral justification for paying people less than the LWW, especially at a time when household bills are going through the roof and families are struggling. Any company that tenders for a council contract will need to guarantee that their workforce is paid the LLW as a minimum.”
    In September 2023 the leisure centre management contract will be renewed, but UVW point out that with the present high inflation this does not help the present situation and is demanding that the UVW to be recognised as the cleaners’ union.
    It is about time that all of Britain’s unions unite and force Labour councils and other public bodies to bring essential workers in-house and cut out parasitical middlemen who do nothing except collect dividends.

West End

On Tuesday some of Britain’s less essential workers start balloting for strike action. They work for Grosvenor Casinos in London. Despite helping to redistribute money from people with more money than sense to their bosses they are being offered a below inflation pay cut.
    Their union, Unite, points out that Grosvenor’s owner, the Rank Group, made a £40 million profit last year but is only offering to increase the wages of its lowest paid staff to the bare London Living Wage of £11.20 an hour. At the same time staff paid more than that are only being offered a 4.3 per cent increase when the real inflation rate (RPI) is 11.8 per cent.
    The rates of pay are little compensation given that much of the work involves unsociable hours and late night working.
    Unite national officer Dave Turnbull said: “If workers vote for strike action it will inevitably cause huge disruption across the company’s operations but this dispute is entirely of Grosvenor Casinos own making. Even at this late stage strike action can still be averted if Grosvenor Casinos returns to the negotiating table and makes a realistic pay offer to our members”. The New Worker is not giving odds on the ballot result.

Battle of the Thames

By New Worker correspondent

 

 An ongoing battle is being fought by IWGB street union at the University of Greenwich on behalf of outsourced security officers employed by French management services company Sodexo. They are demanding hazard pay, which has already been granted to White British porters, but not the majority Black security officers have been denied it.

 Pointing out that the Thames-side university boasts of having an inclusive reputation that it purports to have IWGB complain that security officers, mostly BAME, have taken on additional responsibilities during the pandemic, but have not received any hazard pay or a bonus. At the same time porters, also employed by Sodexo and, mostly white British, have received a £300.00 per month bonus for working during the pandemic.

 Sodexo is taking disciplinary action against a security officer, Kingsley Osadolor, after a student complained about him being prevented from entering a university building without a mask. The officer argues was following the procedures that were set out unclearly to him in an extremely difficult environment, but he is now facing the threat of dismissal and made to bear the blame for unclear procedures handed down by Sodexo and University management.     

 After security officers spoke out on social media about the disciplinary action against Kingsley, Sodexo insisted all security officers sign a conduct and social media policy, which includes restrictions on their abilities to speak publicly about issues at work, in direct contravention of their statutory rights.

 In June the new Vice-Chancellor of the University of Greenwich said: “We have a duty to do better. Equality, diversity and inclusion are founding principles of our institution and core beliefs of our students and staff”. The university has also launched a campaign on campus describing outsourced staff as “our heroes” in thanks for their work during the pandemic. But actions speak louder than words, the University has so far declined to intervene.

            Maritza Castillo-Calle, who chairs the IWGB University of London branch, said: “The University of Greenwich has failed to put adequate health and safety policies in place and has relied on outsourced staff to pick up the slack during the pandemic. To refuse to give majority Black security officers bonuses for this extra work in line with those paid out to other White British staff is pure discrimination”.

 Umar Monday Usifoh, a security officer at University of Greenwich said: “We have happily taken on extra work for the University of Greenwich during the pandemic because we know we play a vital role in keeping the university safe and secure. However, the threatened action against Kingsley has made all of us feel intimidated and less able to do our jobs. We are all Kingsley”.