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01.03.2017 / News /

LSE cleaners to strike on 15th & 16th march with a 100% yes vote

BREAKING NEWS: UVW members who clean the prestigious LSE University have returned a 100% YES vote for STRIKE action demanding DIGNITY & EQUALITY.

First strike dates 15th & 16th March.

Please consider donating to their strike fund if you can: https://www.uvwunion.org.uk/justiceforlsecleaners/

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This result is almost unprecedented and shows the strength of feeling among the cleaners*** and their determination to stop the LSE treating and paying them like second class workers.

What are the cleaners’ demands? All they want is:
i) parity of basic terms and conditions of employment with the rest of the LSE community such as annual leave entitlement, sick pay, maternity/paternity/adoption leave pay and pensions; 
ii) a review of their workloads with the aim of reducing them;
iii) a review of the disciplinary proceedings used against them to make sure they are fair and proportionate; 
iv) the reinstatement of their colleague Alba Pasmino who was unlawfully and unnecessarily sacked with 2 days notice after 12 years service.

Do those demands sound unreasonable? Well according to the LSE they are. That’s what the LSE’s Chief Operating Office, Andrew Young, said.

So an institution which prides itself on learning about and combatting inequality around the world considers it unreasonable for their own cleaners to be treated with respect and receive the same basic terms and conditions of employment as everyone else?

Nearly all of UVW members at the LSE are migrants from Nigeria, Congo, Kenya, Jamaica and Colombia. All of the cleaners are from BME communities. There are no white British cleaners. This is compared to around 82% of LSE professors who are white.

The LSE has refused to talk to UVW or propose a settlement of this dispute.

***Nearly all of UVW members at the LSE are migrants from Nigeria, Congo, Kenya, Jamaica and Colombia. All of the cleaners are from BME communities. There are no white British cleaners. This is compared to around 82% of LSE professors who are white.

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