Seeing that Gauke had been ignoring their messages and
refusing to meet tem, the protesters
decided they'd pop over to the 9 am event he was holding around the corner
from his office at the Ministry of Justice.
Dave and his hosts, the Conservative ‘Reform’
think-tank, weren't impressed and called the police on a group of workers,
including mothers with children, in an attempt to intimidate and discourage the
workers from making their voices heard. The Justice Minister then ran out of a
back door, ashamed to face his workers.
The protest was called by the United
Voices of the World (UVW), a street union founded in 2014 to represent the
mainly outsourced migrant workers of London. Their message to Gauke and his
accomplices is: Dave, we will be back. Wherever you speak, we will be there.
You can continue to run away from your workers but you cannot hide. See you at
the next event.
The UVW is a members-led, campaigning
trade union which supports and empowers the most vulnerable groups of
precarious, low-paid and predominantly migrant workers in Britain.
The new
union rapidly gained media attention and popular support with a series of
high-profile victories for workers serving Sotheby's, Harrods, and the London
School of Economics and in the capital’s other outsourced industries, which
include cleaning, portering, security, retail, waiters and bar staff.
The UVW campaign for all members to receive at least
the London Living Wage (£10.55 per hour as of November 2018), contractual sick
pay and other rights, dignified and safe conditions, and general respect. The union also challenges outsourcing itself,
which creates two-tier workforces in order to slash wage bills and deny
important rights.
