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United Voices of the World

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United Voices of the World (UVW) is an independent grassroots trade union formed in 2014, and based in Elephant and Castle, London.

Its membership is comprised mainly of migrant cleaners, but also workers in other outsourced and low-wage industries. UVW has a strong association with the Latin American community.

The union was born out of a long-running effort to secure the London Living Wage for outsourced cleaners at the Barbican Centre. This campaign was the subject of a 25-minute documentary, Waging a Living in London (2014).[1][2]

Campaigns

UVW has gained media attention through disputes with global brands, and by taking a radical approach to organising precarious workers, who have been shunned and underserved by established unions.[3] UVW's General Secretary Petros Elia has said:

"One of the things UVW and IWGB [a sister union] offer workers, besides prospects of winning real gains, is a sense of community and space - and that is a large part of the reason why workers join and stay."[4]

Its campaigns involve all-out strikes, occupations, flashmobs, roadblocks, and disruptive protests with megaphones, vuvuzuelas, music, singing, dancing, and smoke bombs.[5][6] Two UVW-led campaigns have resulted in three Early Day Motions[7][8][9], and several MPs have given support outside of Parliament.

London School of Economics

In late 2016, a series of contested dismissals of agency cleaners at the London School of Economics (LSE) developed into a full-scale dispute involving large campus protests and weekly strikes, organised by UVW, for equality of rights between in-house staff and cleaners employed by Noonan Services. Over 70 cleaners, all Black and Ethnic Minority, faced significant disparities in paid annual leave, sick pay, paternity/maternity pay, and pension contributions when compared to LSE employees. They wore uniforms inscribed with both the names of the university and the cleaning agency, but had been ordered by their management to change out of uniform before using the fourth-floor cafeteria. It was then clarified by LSE management that the cafeteria was open to all customers, which highlighted a further disparity - the cleaners typically brought their own food and drink, but unlike in-house staff, had no common room or kitchen space.

It was announced on 26 that all agency cleaners servicing the LSE would be brought in-house with the same rights as all other employees.

100 Wood Street

As of April 2016, the prime office spaces of 100 Wood Street in the City of London were being cleaned by a new agency, Thames Cleaning and Support Services (TCSS). The workforce that had previously cleaned the premises was cut by over 50%, and UVW opened a dispute to reinstate all cleaners and secure them the London Living Wage. TCSS attempted but failed to win an injunction in the High Court against the imminent strike, costing them over £20,000 in legal fees. An "all-out" strike began on 26, with a daily picket lasting 61 days before all UVW's demands were met. This set a record for the longest strike in the City of London's history.

Sotheby's

In early 2015, the agency contracted by Sotheby's on New Bond Street, Contract Cleaning and Maintenance (London), had readily granted its cleaners the London Living Wage and reinstatements after an Early Day Motion sponsored by Jeremy Corbyn and John McDonnell, among other MPs. It was promptly announced that Servest would be taking over the cleaning contract, wiping out the concessions previously made to the cleaners.

Harrods

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Topshop

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HR Owen

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References

  1. ^ "Waging A Living In London". London Live. Retrieved 2017-12-21.
  2. ^ Waging a Living in London (2014-12-17), Waging a Living in London trailer, retrieved 2017-12-21
  3. ^ "The New, Radical Independent Unions - Is Small Necessarily Beautiful?". HuffPost UK. 2017-11-13. Retrieved 2017-12-21.
  4. ^ "Precarious workers are organising - trade unions need to catch up - New thinking for the British economy". www.opendemocracy.net. 2017-10-30. Retrieved 2017-12-21.
  5. ^ "ON THE FRONTLINE: Confronting Precariousness, Outsourcing and Exploitation – Lessons from the LSE Cleaners". Discover Society. 2017-12-06. Retrieved 2017-12-21.
  6. ^ Dean, Jon (2015-07-03). "Sotheby's suspends cleaners after 'water pistols fired at clients' during demo". mirror. Retrieved 2017-12-21.
  7. ^ "Early day motion 309 - TREATMENT OF LOW-PAID EMPLOYEES BY SOTHEBY'S". UK Parliament. Retrieved 2017-12-21.
  8. ^ "Early day motion 793 - DISPUTE INVOLVING CONTRACT CLEANING AND MAINTENANCE (LONDON) LTD". UK Parliament. Retrieved 2017-12-21.
  9. ^ "Early day motion 1028 - LOW-PAID STAFF AT LSE". UK Parliament. Retrieved 2017-12-21.
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