SOAS Justice For Workers - End Outsourcing

The J4W campaign is planning to collect testimonials from alumni in order to create a longer video of the experiences and advice of students of the campaign across time. This would add to the campaign’s material and would be an incredible exercise in knowledge sharing and to archive some of the history of the campaign.

The idea would be to send a video (or text if you are not comfortable with video) talking about your experience with the J4W campaign and/or any advice, actions or anything that you think might be helpful to help students support the workers at SOAS.

Additionally we were thinking of compiling pictures (along with the years in the campaign) of students involved in the campaign so do send yours.

Share this anyone that you know was involved with the campaign.

Please send everything to the j4w email before the start of September :)))

[email protected]

Consuelo Moreno Yusti has been a cleaner at SOAS for 19 years.
In 2006 Cony and her the colleagues formed the Justice for Workers which campaigned to in-house all of the out-sourced staff at the university. A campaign that has had to face an institution that has used all means possible to stop workers from organizing for their rights and working conditions.

Cony is a pillar of the community and an example for organizing against privatisation and precarization. Her story is shared with the whole city as she is honour in the City of Women London map where women and non-binary people are celebrated for the increasible contributions!

https://www.cityofwomenlondon.org/

As Cony always says "La lucha continua" (The fight continues)
We love you so much❤️

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STATEMENT OCCUPIERS HAVE JUST WRITTEN UP

In the late hours of last night, we the occupiers of the management corridor were ILLEGALLY EVICTED by a team of over 40 private bailiffs that SOAS hired without attaining a court order. They entered the building via the staff common room balcony by ladder, with riot shields. They also entered via the stairwell inside the building and broke a window on their way in. 3 of the occupiers were dragged out by bailiffs left with cuts and bruises. The others, whilst not being dragged out, were harassed, intimidated and pushed around by the private bailiffs. Estimate of around £50,000 was spent by the university on this illegal eviction and they even hired a specialist company who deal with protestors.

In an email to all students and staff this morning (Friday), SOAS claimed they sought this option after … This is a shameful lie on behalf of the university. Initial negotiations began on Wednesday, 1 week after the occupation began, and even then management did not even acknowledge all the demands. SOAS have still not taken seriously the demand, which has come from all sections of the SOAS community, that Habib must go. Further, from the outset of the occupation, the threat of imminent forcible removal was held over the occupiers: this is no way for the university to engage in reasonable negotiations. Dialogue has not been exhausted, SOAS Management have not even begun, nor do they seem capable, to engage in dialogue with the student community.

Instead, the director’s group, led by Habib, have continually sought to sow division amongst students and staff with their twisted narrative. The shutting of the main building had nothing to do with the occupation and everything to do with turning students against each other and stifling any critique of management. The occupation has been clear on this from the start: we occupied management so as not to disrupt learning and teaching. The disruption to studies has been the decision of management entirely - both in this last week, and in general, as this violent institution continually exploits and violates students and workers.

Whilst we are shocked in this moment, we cannot be surprised. This is unfortunately far from the most violent thing Habib has done at a university - he claims no regret over his calling of military police on free education protesters at the University of Wits in South Africa. We remember also that student activists are STILL in prison in South Africa, and call for their immediate release. We have no illusions that Habib’s appointment at SOAS was specifically linked to his experience in repressing student movements. Not only do we demand that Habib must go from SOAS now, we must also organise beyond this university to make sure he cannot continue his despicable practices elsewhere, and that any replacement is chosen democratically by the students and workers of the community.

We are out of the management corridor, but the occupation is not over. We will be back. Habib must go!
We will occupy
Til you demarketise
Til we decolonise

!ACTION ALERT! Demand dignified Working Conditions for our cleaning Team! Sign our petition & email SOAS COO here: https://actionnetwork.org/petitions/demand-dignified-working-conditions

The SOAS cleaning team has been hit hard by redundancies and the increased workload of the persistent pandemic. If management fails to ensure safe and dignified working conditions of their staff, it is up to us as students to hold them to account to do so! We come together to urge management to meet the cleaner's demands. Join us in ensuring justice for the cleaning team. ¡La Lucha Continua!

Support Striking Outsourced Workers at UAL!

'Cleaners at UAL and their unions have repeatedly called to be brought in-house and be employed on the same terms and conditions as directly employed staff. These calls have been ignored for too long.

Cleaners will strike to get the same terms and conditions as directly employed staff, and this fund will help cover their pay and expenses while they take this necessary action to get equal rights as workers.'

Support striking outsourced cleaners at UAL! After our first strike in September, we will finish the year with one final strike day, and are looking to raise money to pay lost wages.

Today, after a year of negotiations, in the middle of a dispute, and with the solidarity of the J4W campaign, the cleaners managed to get their proposed rota accepted by SOAS management - it was the most functional and equitable when compared with SOAS’s proposals.

Let us not forget that the cleaning team went through the disastrous Transformation and Change process last year where the staff suffered a devastating 44% cut during a risky pandemic time and with a rota that had the cleaners working for 4 days and off for 4 days. This meant 26.26 weekly working hours which did not reflect our contracted hours (37.5). Additionally, each team worked 4 weekends a month, something which is totally unreasonable.

The cleaning team are human beings, we have lives, families, and we are the essential workers that faced the pandemic, exposing ourselves on public transport to come to work, cleaning the university to ensure the safety of the SOAS community.

Although we are now hired directly by the university (after a historic campaign) we continue to be treated by management as 2nd class workers, without planning, without consultation, without communication and most importantly without respect. However, we have shown over the years, that we are united and continue to break down barriers bringing us closer to the respect and dignity that we deserve.

Thank you J4W, thank you dear students, thank you Sandy Nicoll.

The SOAS cleaning team

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Victoria de los limpiadores

Hoy despues de un año de negociaciones en medio de una disputa y con la solidaridad de la campaña J4W los limpiadores lograron que la rota propuesta por ellos fuera aceptada por la gerencia de Soas, por ser la rota mas funcional y equitativa en comparacion a las propuestas por soas.
Recordemos que el equipo de limpieza paso por un proceso desastrozo de transformation y cambio el año pasado donde el personal de limpieza sufrio un desvastador recorte del 44% en un riesgoso tiempo de pandemia y con una rota de 4 dias trabajados y 4 dias libres que no reflejaba nuestras horas del contrato (37,5) tan solo 26.25 horas y un mes trabanjado los 4 fines de semana por cada equipo, algo totalmente desmesurado, el equipo de limpieza , somos seres humanos, tenemos una vida, una familia , somos el equipo esencial que le dio cara a la pandemia , exponiendose en el transporte publico para venir a trabajar, higienizando areas para generar seguridad para la comunidad de soas , pero aunque hemos sido contratados directamente por la universidad(despues de una historica campaña) seguimos siendo tratados por la gerencia como trabajadores de 2 clase, sin planificacion, sin consultacion, sin comunicacion y lo mas importante sin respeto.
Sin embargo hemos demostrado que a lo largo de los años estar unidos fuertes traspasamos las barreras hacia el respeto y la dignidad que nos merecemos.
Gracias J4W , gracias queridos estudiantes, gracias Sandy Nicoll.

Equipo de limpieza Soas