United Voices of the World (UK)

The United Voices of the World (UVW) is a trade union based in the UK that mainly organises among immigrant workers, particularly from Latin America. It is notable for being highly successful despite only being around since 2014.

Timeline

• 2016: In response to the bullying and firing of female cleaners in retail for joining the UVW, hundreds of protesters marched in solidarity outside the shop, resulting in her rehiring.
• 2017: Hotelworkers in the UVW who were kept in the dark about a 12.5% service charge increase added to bills (reducing the amount of tips gained for workers, leading to workers losing £5,000 per year). A strike and blockade of the hotel by workers (which led to two being arrested) resulted in 100% of service charges going to workers.
• 2017: University cleaners who joined the UVW began weekly strikes with supports from students, resulting in the workers getting paid annual leave, sick pay, parental leave pay and greater pensions after 10 months of the strike

R

• Peruvian

employees at Orion's industrial recycling plant in East London walked off the job in March 2018. They sorted construction waste in unsafe and dusty conditions, with insufficient personal protection and a lack of basic facilities.^[37]

Along with UVW staff and supporters, they confronted the general 

manager and laid out their demands, which included: the London Living Wage, contractual sick pay, slower working, new face masks, soap, toilet paper, a shower room, and a decent supply of gloves, uniforms and hard hats. Many of the requested items were ordered the same day, and the striking workers were promised full pay until they resumed work, as well as board-level consideration of wage and contractual demands.^[38]

• 2018: The UVW joins the International Confederation of Labor as an observer
• 2018: Conservative newspaper office cleaners in the UVW were being illegally underpaid and threatened with unemployment if they striked. But, they went on strike anyway with sympathy protests outside the offices, leading to a wage increase beyond the living wage for the area.

Sotheby's

Cleaners and porters at Sotheby's New Bond Street auction house were employed by Contract Cleaning and Maintenance (London) Limited (CCML), 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".^[25] 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.^[26][27]

Four of the workers involved were denied access the following morning, 

and suspended indefinitely, after CCTV allegedly captured protestors spraying water pistols at clients.^[28] Two were later reinstated while the other two were dismissed.^[29] Sotheby's Battersea classic car auction in September was disrupted by another UVW protest.^[30]

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.^[31]

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.^[32]

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.^[33]

In May 2018 a group of cleaners represented by UVW demanded the London 

Living Wage (LLW) of £10.20 per hour, and in August coordinated a joint strike with cleaners at the Ministry of Justice, supported by the MP for Kensington, Emma Dent-Coad.^[34]

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 next 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.^[35]

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 onwards.^[36]

Orion Waste Management

Peruvian employees at Orion's industrial recycling plant in East London walked off the job in March 2018. They sorted construction waste in unsafe and dusty conditions, with insufficient personal protection and a lack of basic facilities.^[37]

Along with UVW staff and supporters, they confronted the general 

manager and laid out their demands, which included: the London Living Wage, contractual sick pay, slower working, new face masks, soap, toilet paper, a shower room, and a decent supply of gloves, uniforms and hard hats. Many of the requested items were ordered the same day, and the striking workers were promised full pay until they resumed work, as well as board-level consideration of wage and contractual demands.^[38]

100 Wood Street

The 100 Wood Street offices in the City of London, designed by Norman Foster, were cleaned by Latin American migrants employed by Thames Cleaning & Support Services. Demanding a raise to the London Living Wage, and the reinstatement of several colleagues after a heavy cost-cutting restructure in early 2016, a group of cleaners commenced an "indefinite strike" and daily picket. After 52 days, a record for any strike in the City of London, a confidential agreement was reached that apparently secured the Living Wage and a promise to "resolve other issues".^[39]

Contact

You can contact the UVW here