At the LSE

by New Worker correspondent

The London School of Economics, which older readers will recall was founded by Sidney and Beatrice Webb, authors of an important history of British trade unions, has acted viciously towards the leader of the 2017 strike by cleaners.
    Jamaican born Mildred Simpson, a member of the small non-TUC union, United Voices of the World, is a cleaner with 21 years of service at the LSE where she successfully led a strike which saw the ending of outsourcing. Now she is facing disciplinary action on very flimsy grounds with the aim of getting her sacked just before she reaches retirement age.
    Her alleged offence was to leave her post 15 minutes before the end of her shift on no less than three times in over two years.
    This she correctly points out is “all down to bullying and victimisation. I feel that they’ve been targeting me for years” she tells us. This constant picking on me seemed to intensify after our successful strike against outsourcing. I suspect this repetitive singling out has to do far more with my union activities than anything else.”
    Like many low paid workers she has effectively two jobs at the LSE: First as a cleaner from 6 am to 8.30 am and later as a janitor from 9 am to 5 pm. That long day is even longer because although her shift starts she is “in LSE every morning from around 5:15am because I’m a team leader and I want to have enough time before my actual shift starts so everything is ready before my team arrives.”
    As a reward for her trade union activities: “I’ve had several meetings about minor issues which have fizzled out without any result, but this constant picking on me seemed to intensify after our successful strike against outsourcing. I suspect this repetitive singling out has to do far more with my union activities than anything else.”
    She has also complained about understaffing which bosses interpret as her not being able to do her job properly, which she feels is unfair.
    As result of the stress from this victimisation she has been signed off sick by her doctor and had go to counselling to be able to cope.
    Despite this she remains defiant and advises any workers in a similar position to “keep your spirits up, keep your strength up, because we, in the union, support each other. Whatever they are doing to us, we are not standing down”.
    It is a pity that small street unions such as UVW are necessary. They are essentially the result of the big general unions, Unite, Unison and GMB failing to organise the migrant workers who make up the majority of cleaning workers. They have the resources to do so, but many of their recruitment campaigns begin and end with a photo-shoot with the General Secretary instead of the sustained work necessary. Among the TUC unions, only RMT have deployed their resources in this direction.