University of the Arts London: bring cleaners back-in-house! #EndRacistOutsourcing
Executive board, University of the Arts London
Outsourcing is the practice of hiring private suppliers in the delivery of services, instead of directly employing workers. UAL's continued outsourcing of university cleaners shirks institutional responsibility, and puts private interests ahead of it precarious, marginalised workers.
This petition demands that University of the Arts London (UAL) ends the outsourcing of cleaning contracts across all its college and campus sites, and takes the health and well-being of its largely Black and minority ethnic low-income workers seriously. After years of being managed by a string of corporations, and after years of struggle, our cleaners and their allies have made it clear that enough is enough.
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Executive board, University of the Arts London
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[Your Name]
In January 2022, cleaners at UAL were transferred to yet another multi-national company, OCS, after being managed by the firm Bouygues. They have since experienced missing pay (on top of missing pay by their previous employer), lack of communication and interference in trade union activities. Last year, black cleaners and union organisers have also been subjected to unfair dismissals – common for outsourced workers who do not have the same protections as directly employed staff.
The continued culture of disregard and disrespect towards UAL’s cleaners, and the consistent denial of workplace equity while claiming values of social justice, needs to end. Outsourcing is harmful given the current cost-of-living crisis, after a long pandemic where cleaners kept the university buildings clean and safe in poor conditions.
In signing this petition we agree that outsourcing cleaners at UAL is:
• Incompatible with the university’s values
Compared with directly employed staff, outsourced cleaners have inferior pay, irregular and fewer working hours, poorer holiday entitlements and maternity leave, no sick leave, and far greater insecurity – with fewer protections in place in case of dismissal, harassment and unsafe working conditions.
• Unethical, racist and discriminatory
Outsourced cleaning staff at UAL are, by majority, from Black, minority ethnic and migrant backgrounds, middle-aged and over, and are women. These identities are each uniquely marginalised and precarious not only in the workplace.
Is this what UAL means by "equality, diversity and inclusion for all"?
• Economically imprudent
Several London universities have in-housed cleaners, as well as security and other formerly sub-contracted services, at cost or less than the cost of a corporative outsourcing contract. This has improved working conditions and standards.
Who is really benefiting from UAL's outsourcing contracts?
We believe the University of the Arts London's executive board has the power to end outsourcing in the interests of equality, social justice, and the anti-racist values it is supposed to stand for. This petition demands the cleaners be brought back in-house urgently.
#UALEndOutsourcing
#EndRacistOutsourcing