United Voices of the World
United Voices of the World is an independent grassroots trade union formed in 2014.
Following a vote held during its AGM of 2018, a non-hierarchical command structure replaced the former hierarchy of General Secretary and President, and key decisions are made by a democratic Executive Committee formed by staff and members.
Its members are mainly migrant cleaners and workers in other service or low-wage/outsourced industries. UVW has a strong association with the Latin American community. The union was born out of a protracted effort to secure the London Living Wage for outsourced cleaners at the Barbican Centre. This was the subject of a 25-minute documentary, Waging a Living in London.
In 2019, UVW launched Legal Sector Workers United to organise workers across the legal industry, an initiative supported by Michael Mansfield QC. Groups of organising architects, designers/cultural workers and workers from domestic/sexual violence organisations have also joined the union. Since 2018, UVW has been organising strippers and other sex workers, with the support of groups advocating for the decriminalisation of sex work.
UVW's longest-running active campaign is at the Ministry of Justice, where outsourced cleaners, security guards and receptionists are demanding the London Living Wage plus parity of sick pay and annual leave with civil servants. Their first strike took place in August 2018, and a second was staged in January 2019 in conjunction with PCS members striking at the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy.
Campaigning style
UVW gained media attention representing small groups of workers in disputes with global brands such as Sotheby's and Topshop, and by taking a radical approach to organising precarious and migrant workers, who have been shunned and under-served by established unions.Co-founder and former General Secretary Petros Elia has said:
One of the things UVW and IWGB offer workers, besides prospects of winning real gains, is a sense of community... that is a large part of the reason why workers join and stay.
Campaigns are characterised by noisy and disruptive pickets and protests, embracing diverse groups and utilising social media to attract further support:
In the street, this scaling-up of the protest was facilitated by a strong element of fun. The picket lines were turned into festive moments where participants could dance zumba, make banners with artists, listen to poetry and live music, and take part in salsa-dancing flash mob occupations of the LSE’s directors buildings. Online, the campaign circulated petitions, and produced Facebook pages, while established bloggers and professional photographers documented every step of the protest. This combination of online and street presence, media attention, and broad-based alliances, contributed in making the cleaners’ struggle impossible to ignore.The openly confrontational, often experimental attitude of UVW and IWGB distinguishes them from larger unions:
They also take an uncompromising approach to their demands. Both unions are quick to call strike action, often with short work stoppages of several hundred employees that take place alongside protests designed to generate a social media buzz and exert public pressure on an employer... “We tell workers that they need to take action, serious action, protracted action until they win,” says Mr Elia. “The demands we make are non-negotiable. We want everything we ask for.”
Covid-19 and death of Emanuel Gomes
Emanuel Gomes, a UVW member from Guinea Bissau, died of coronavirus on April 24th 2020, hours after finishing a night shift at the Ministry of Justice. He had been sick for 5 days but continued to clean the deserted offices despite his agency bosses and all civil servants being absent. Emanuel's employer, OCS, had been unresponsive to safety concerns despite informing the cleaners that they were "essential workers" during the outbreak. Since 2018, UVW have been campaigning for improved wages and sick pay for outsourced cleaners, security guards and receptionists at the Ministry of Justice, and in July 2020, the MoJ announced that outsourced staff would receive full pay for any coronavirus-related sick leave, backdated to 1 April.St. George's University of London, where UVW has been campaigning with security guards employed by Bidvest Noonan, announced in July 2020 that the guards would be entitled to 3 weeks of full sick pay, and full pay during self-isolation after contraction of coronavirus. Some of the security guards had previously walked off the job in protest of non-essential duties and visitors at a time when most students and management were self-isolating, and the lack of provision of PPE.
Campaign history
London School of Economics
In late 2016, contested dismissals of cleaners employed by Noonan Services at the London School of Economics escalated into a full-scale dispute for equality of rights to match those of LSE's in-house staff. Dozens of cleaners, all of ethnic minorities, 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 name of the university and their employer, but had been instructed by Noonan's management to change out of uniform before using the university's fourth-floor cafeteria. They were subsequently assured 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 to make use of.Large campus protests and weekly strikes were organised by UVW in the summer of 2017, attracting much student support despite coinciding with the exam period. It was announced in June 2017, after a 10-month campaign, that around 200 outsourced workers at the LSE would be offered in-house contracts.
St. Mary's Hospital
Cleaners, porters and caterers at St. Mary's were employed by Sodexo on the minimum wage, significantly less than they would earn on corresponding NHS pay bands. They were also denied the sick pay, maternity pay, annual leave and pensions enjoyed by NHS staff.In the final months of 2019, over 100 Sodexo workers at St. Mary's joined UVW. In total 10 days of strike action took place from late October to late November, then plans to strike in December were cancelled as Tom Orchard, CEO of Imperial NHS Trust, committed to negotiations to be concluded in January 2020. As Sodexo's contract was coming to an end, and with UVW threatening an "all-out" indefinite strike, it was announced at the end of January that over 1,000 Sodexo workers in five hospitals would be in-housed as NHS employees from April 2020.
Ark Globe Academy
The Ark Globe Academy in Southwark, London outsourced its maintenance operations to Ridge Crest Cleaning, who paid the cleaners the minimum wage with no occupational sick pay. Repeated instances of unpaid work led to a spontaneous walkout on June 4th and 5th 2020, after which Ridge Crest paid all outstanding wages. Other demands included the provision of Personal Protective Equipment in the face of Covid-19, and audio was then recorded from a telephone call where Emma Nabola, manager at Ridge Crest, repeatedly implied that PPE and improved pay would be contingent upon the cleaners ceasing their union activities.Simon Wrenn, managing director at Ridge Crest, announced in a letter dated July 16th that from the beginning of September term, cleaners would be paid the London Living Wage of £10.75 and sick pay in parity with Ark Globe Academy staff. UVW then confirmed plans to file a collective tribunal claim against Ridge Crest for trade union victimisation.
Harrods
Over 450 kitchen and waiting staff at the 16 restaurants and cafes within Harrods were being kept in the dark about the total proceeds of a discretionary 12.5% service charge added to bills. They received only an unspecified percentage of the total, which while not rare in the hospitality industry, was particularly controversial given Harrods' profitability and the wealth of its Qatari owners. It was reported that Harrods management had told staff in a meeting that 50% of the total was retained by the company as revenue, though many believed the true figure to be as high as 75%, which would have resulted in each employee losing out on £5,000 per year.During early January sales in 2017, a contingent organised by UVW including Harrods employees staged a surprise protest and roadblock along the Brompton Road storefront. A large inflatable cube read "Stop Stealing Our Tips" while a red flare was lit, entrances were locked, two arrests were made, and more than two dozen police frustrated the protestors for several hours. Harrods announced on the 20th of January that "an improved tronc system" would be introduced to guarantee that 100% of service charges go to employees.
The Daily Mail Group
In 2018, the Northcliffe House offices of the Daily Mail Group were being cleaned by migrants from the Caribbean, Africa and Latin America on £7.50 an hour. Mitie, the contractor employing the cleaners, allegedly threatened the cleaners not to strike, and would not confirm whether they had initiated a "redundancy process for its Northcliffe House cleaners as recently as February, off the back of demands from DMG to decrease the cost of the contract". A Change.org petition in support of the cleaners' demand for the London Living Wage attracted over 100,000 signatures. Refusing to voluntarily recognise UVW as the cleaners' trade union, and facing strikes and protests, DMG issued a statement claiming that Mitie had "some time ago" approved pay increases for the cleaners. Mitie confirmed that "our teams working at DMG... have been informed of a pay increase to at least, and in some cases, beyond the London Living Wage."University of Greenwich
Cafe workers serving the main lobby of Greenwich university joined UVW complaining of low pay, overworking and insufficient sick pay. They were all employees of Baxterstorey, which had been contracted to run the cafeteria. One chef working 80 hours a week had collapsed shortly after a typical day in intense kitchen heat, but returned to work the next morning because he couldn't afford to skip a single shift. All of his colleagues were to become UVW members, and as they announced their campaign, Baxterstorey immediately raised their pay by 50p to £9.75 an hour.Demanding the full London Living Wage of £10.55 as well as improved sick pay and annual leave, the workers went on strike for four days in October 2019. Protests interrupted the annual graduation ceremony and a top-level university board meeting, calling on students and staff to boycott the cafeteria. With more strikes and protests planned, it was announced in early January 2020 that all outsourced cafe workers, cleaners and security guards at the university would receive the London Living Wage, in addition to the same sick pay and annual leave as equivalent in-house staff.
The Royal Parks
Around 50 attendants who maintain the seven Royal Parks in central London, mostly from Ghana, Nigeria and Sierra Leone were being paid the minimum wage by their employer, Vinci Facilities. After two strike days in October 2019 and threats of further strikes, the board of Royal Parks agreed to raise wages of Vinci staff to the London Living Wage of £10.75 backdated to November 1st, 2019. However, disparities remained in relation to Royal Parks in-house staff's sick pay and entitlements to annual leave, pension, overtime, on-call allowance, redundancy pay and maternity pay.15 of the attendants have filed a claim of "indirect race discrimination" at the Central London Employment Tribunal against the Royal Parks. It will be a test case to "force employers to think more carefully before they operate a two-tier system which disadvantages migrant labour." The same legal challenge will be faced by St. George's University of London, a medical school where UVW is engaged in a campaign to in-house the outsourced security guards.
Topshop
Susana Benavides, a Latin American cleaner employed by Britannia Services Group to clean Topshop's flagship store on London's Oxford Street, was represented for several years by UVW in her fight for dignified treatment and the London Living Wage. She had suffered depression resulting from an ongoing series of bullying incidents. In May 2016, two hundred protestors were joined by Shadow Chancellor John McDonnell MP in a show of solidarity for Susana, and hundreds of leaflets were placed in the pockets of clothing items. An online petition supporting Susana attracted over 35,000 signatures. She and her colleague Carolina were suspended and then sacked.A 2019 ruling secured by Cloisters barrister Akua Reindorf in Susana's successful claim against Britannia found it to be clear “beyond any argument” that Susana was dismissed for engaging in legitimate trade union activities.
Sotheby's
Cleaners and porters at Sotheby's New Bond Street auction house were employed by Contract Cleaning and Maintenance Limited, who conceded several demands after UVW initiated a formal dispute and 24 MPs signed an Early Day Motion condemning a litany of "poor employment practices". Sotheby's then terminated their contract with CCML and brought in Servest, taking UVW's dispute back to square one.A surprise protest on the 1st of July 2015 sought to disrupt a major auction night including contemporary art by Andy Warhol and Francis Bacon. Four of the workers involved were denied access the following morning, and suspended indefinitely, after CCTV allegedly captured protestors spraying water pistols at clients. Two were later reinstated while the other two were dismissed. Sotheby's Battersea classic car auction in September was disrupted by another UVW protest. In February 2016 it was announced that Sotheby's and Servest had reached an agreement to pay all outsourced workers the London Living Wage and improved sick pay.
Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea
Cleaners working for Kensington and Chelsea council, principally at the town hall, were employed by Amey via a £150m 10-year "Tri-borough" services contract. Amey paid them the minimum wage of £7.83 per hour, and provided no sick pay beyond the statutory minimum, which paid nothing for the first three days of absence, and only a heavily reduced wage thereafter. In May 2018 a group of cleaners represented by UVW demanded the London Living Wage of £10.20 per hour, and in August coordinated a joint strike with cleaners at the Ministry of Justice, supported by the then MP for Kensington, Emma Dent-Coad. On the first of three planned strike days, RBKC issued two mixed messages within a few hours, the first apparently committing to bringing the cleaners in-house, and the second merely promising a review of Amey's contract. The striking cleaners burst into a council meeting later that afternoon, securing an agreement from council members to engage with cleaners on the picket line the following morning.A statement by the council's chief executive Barry Quirk the following day confirmed that "all options" were being considered in order to deliver the cleaners' wage demands, including ending Amey's contract and bringing the cleaners in-house. In September, the council fully committed to paying the LLW as of January 2019, with council leader Elizabeth Campbell further promising to try and secure backdated payment of the LLW from October 2018 onwards.