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11.09.2024 / News / James Allen's Girls' School

Cleaners at James Allen’s Girls’ School win union recognition

Cleaners at the prestigious James Allen’s Girls’ School (JAGS) in Dulwich, south London have been granted union recognition. This comes a week after the cleaners called off a strike they had unanimously voted to hold, after their employer offered a deal which will see pay cuts reversed and the introduction of full sick pay. The cleaners now have a legal right to negotiate with their employer as a bargaining unit based at the school, with United Voices of the World (UVW) as their union.

There are rights which unionised workers get once they are recognised by an employer, which the cleaners at the Sunday Times’ London Independent School of the Year 2024, will now enjoy. These include access to information for collective bargaining, reasonable paid time off for union representatives to perform their duties, and reasonable unpaid time off for members to engage in union activities. The union can also appoint safety representatives, form safety committees, and must be consulted before redundancies or business transfers take place.

UVW requested voluntary recognition from the outsourced contractor DB Services, on behalf of the cleaners at the school at the end of June. This was during the period the cleaners were balloting for strike action. Shortly before the ballot closed, DB Services responded, rejecting UVW’s request for voluntary recognition. UVW didn’t back down and submitted an official application to the Central Arbitration Committee (CAC) for recognition.

UVW didn’t back down and jumped through the usual bureaucratic hurdles to get recognition. The CAC conducted a membership check in early August which showed that over 80% of the workers in the unit were UVW members. On 9 September, a week after the cleaners announced victory in the dispute over pay cuts, the CAC officially recognised UVW as the union for the outsourced cleaners at JAGS.

Speaking about the cleaners victory in reversing pay cuts, Rosa Garces Chinche, JAGS cleaner and UVW member, said: “I am very happy with what we won, we achieved a lot especially considering for many of us it was the first time we were in a union. We are very appreciative of all the support we received along the way, from other union members, from the teachers who stood by us every step of the way, and from the community members and alumni of JAGS that sent us so much support. I think it important that migrant cleaners everywhere know that we have power in our hands, and we need to unite and build unions in order to have respect at work and win big wins! Always remember, ¡La unión hace la fuerza!”

This is UVW’s ninth recognition deal. Previously the union has won recognition for cleaners, security guards and porters at the Ministry of Justice, cleaners at at Latchmere Leisure Centre, concierge, cleaners and maintenance at West End Quays luxury apartments, cleaners at Riverside Quarter luxury apartments, cleaners at La Retraite, Roman Catholic Girls’ School and cleaners at LHH (Lee Hecht Harrison).

Come and find out how you can win the rights union recognition brings by attending our training for UVW members on Wednesday 18 September. We’ll be covering what recognition is and how to win it. To register just fill out this form 👉 https://www.zetk.in/o/487/surveys/1370

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