Below is a list of past events held by the SOAS Living Wage Campaign and Justice for Cleaners

This is the BIG one. The SOAS Governing Body is scheduled to make the decision on the future of the outsourced cleaning contract. We need as big a lobby as possible to help them make up their minds!! BE THERE!!.

On May 20th the School will be making a decision whether to bring our cleaners in-house or to leave them in the hands of private contractors. The SOAS Living Wage Campaign welcomes this review by the SOAS administration of policies that result in unjust and demeaning employment practices that leave many outsourced support workers at SOAS in poverty.

SOAS UNISON, UCU and Students’ Union think you should be consulted about this major decision and, therefore, will be conducting a consultative ballot over the next week from Tuesday 6th May. The ballot box will be in the foyer of the main building from 11am – 3.30pm. You will need your student/ staff card in order to vote. You can download a copy of the ballot paper here

The three options that you will be asked to vote on, mirroring those SOAS will be considering, are:

Option 1—In house solution with pay at a rate determined by the Framework Agreement and the HERA results

This option would mean:

• That our cleaners would be employed directly by SOAS
• They would be entitled to salaries and benefits the same as equivalent members of SOAS staff
• They would also have the right to join a trade union
• Their rights could be protected.

Option 2—Outsourced solution with pay at the rate determined with reference to the Framework Agreement and the HERA results

This option would mean:

• That our cleaners would still be left working for a private contractor
• Wages in-line with, but not guaranteed to be the same as, that paid to equivalent SOAS staff
• There would be no guarantee of equivalent terms & conditions with other SOAS staff
• No guarantee that our cleaners would have access to a recognised trade union

Option 3—Outsourced solution with pay at the rate determined by current market conditions (This is the situation that the cleaners are currently in)

• Being paid the minimum wage
• Working for a private contractor
• On legal minimum terms & conditions significantly less than staff working directly for the SOAS

We believe that adopting Option 1 would dramatically improve the lives of low paid SOAS workers and set important precedents for universities nationwide. We believe that a prestigious institution like SOAS should be setting an example for others - not benefiting from exploitation, poverty pay and the absence of the most basic employment rights. That the vast majority of those affected are migrant workers, among the most vulnerable in the country, should shame SOAS of all places into taking action.

We urge everyone within the SOAS community to take part in this important ballot and show that you care about all staff involved in delivering our education. You can download a copy of our SOAS Community Consultative Ballot flyer here.

The SOAS Living Wage Campaign urges you to VOTE FOR OPTION ONE

Sessions include: “We want bread but we want roses too” Migrant Workers Speak Out"; Making Poverty Profitable: Outsourcing and Deregulation; What is a living Wage?; Poverty, War and Neo-liberalism: Why Migrant Workers End Up in the UK; Organising for a Living Wage: From US Campuses to Canary Wharf; Cleaning Up Our Act: How We Win Justice at SOAS.

Speakers include: Prof Henry Bernstein (SOAS); Deborah Littman (UNISON); Dr Phil Marfleet (UEL); Clare Solomon (SOAS SU Co-President); Nick Clark (PCS); Ben Sellars (SOAS SU Co-President Elect); Fidel Narvaez (Ecuadorian Community Activist); and, of course, SOAS Cleaners themselves.

Download a Flyer for the event.

We have now received a summary of the SOAS Outsourced Contract Review available here (pdf). For the first time the School has put in writing that it is prepared to cost bringing our cleaners back in-house on SOAS standard terms and conditions as one of the options it is considering. The summary also outlines a very clear timetable for the decision making process which gives us a clear set of deadlines to campaign around.

If we push hard enough over the next few weeks and months we could win this Campaign and make a very real difference to the lives of SOAS cleaning staff.

Friday 14 December 2007 - Lobby of SOAS Governing Body calling for an end to outsourcing and to bring all cleaning, catering and security staff back in-house. Flyer

Thursday 6 December 2007 - Campaign Meeting at 1pm in room 102. SOAS has commissioned a team of consultants to write a report on contracted out services which will be published in December. The contracts for the cleaning and security services are due for renewal in August 2008 and the findings of the report will form part of the decision making process as to whether to stay with the private companies who currently run them.
The report also looks at whether all contract staff should get the London Living Wage, better terms and conditions (e.g. pension and holiday rights) and if the service should be brought back in house.
Representatives from the SOAS Living Wage/ Justice for SOAS cleaners’ campaign attended a presentation of the consultants’ initial findings on 21 November 2007. Following this, we have decided to hold a meeting to update all supporters and plan the next steps in the campaign. ALL WELCOME

Thursday 26 October 2007 - Birkbeck Living Wage Campaign invites you to a special screening of "Bread and Roses" introduced by its multi-award winning director and socialist Ken Loach.

Birckbeck Cinema, 43 Gordon Square. Introduction at 6.15pm and film starts at 6.30pm prompt (Runs 96 mins). For more information contact j.rapkin@bbk.ac.uk.

Download a flyer for the event here.

Thursday 24 August 2007 - Campaign Meeting at 1pm in room 116 with guest speaker Erin Van der Maas, who was part of the successful Living Wage Campaign at London School of Economics. Please forward to friends, colleagues and fellow activists.

Saturday 26 May 2007 - Justice for Cleaners ‘Fiesta for the Living Wage’ at SOAS in the JCR from 2 until 9pm with Latin American Music, free salsa classes plus food and drink. Students, colleagues, fellow campaigners are all welcome! Flyer

Tuesday 1 May 2007 – May day Justice for Cleaners protest in Bloomsbury. Flyer. Video

Monday 5 February 2007 – Meeting held with the London manager of SOAS’s cleaning contractor Ocean, the Head of the SOAS Estates Department and representatives from the UCU, UNISON and the Justice for Cleaners Campaign.

Saturday 27 January 2007 – Screening of Ken Loach’s film “Bread and Roses” at 12 noon in Room G52 at SOAS with George Galloway MP. Flyer