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17.12.2024 / News / Department for Education

Department for Education security guards to join mass strike on 21 December

“We all saw how the cleaners and caterers were treated, and how UVW stood up for them. They were able to win their demands, and it was their fight that inspired me to join UVW. Morale is high despite G4S’s response, which really showed they don’t seem to care about us. They say they won’t negotiate with UVW, even though all the guards have joined. We do not accept that they want to negotiate with a union that doesn’t represent us. We are ready to strike.”
Dele Bodumde, who has served as a security officer at DfE for 12 years and is a UVW member

Security officers employed by G4S at the Department for Education (DfE), who are members of United Voices of the World (UVW), will strike on Saturday 21 December in a fight for fair pay and sick pay parity with civil servants. The guards, who work at Sanctuary Buildings in central London, are demanding a minimum pay rate of £15 per hour, a comprehensive sick pay scheme in line with directly employed DfE staff, improved annual leave entitlements and better quality uniforms.

UVW’s security guard disputes extend beyond the DfE, as museum security guards at the Science Museum, Natural History Museum and V&A Museum have already taken industrial action in October and November in pursuit of £16 per hour and sick pay from day one.

On 21 December, DfE security guards will join hundreds of other UVW members, including Harrods workers and museum security guards, in walking out en masse to demand better pay and working conditions. Pickets will take place outside Harrods and the museums.

The DfE security guards were balloted for strike action after their demands were ignored by G4S Limited, a British multinational private security company. The guards returned a unanimous 100% yes vote to strike action, with 100% density and 100% turnout.

Dele Bodumde, who has served as a security officer at DfE for 12 years and is a UVW member, said:
“The guards are the lowest paid in Sanctuary Buildings, and we don’t want to stomach it anymore. In fact, I have been fighting for years for better pay and treatment here, to the point where I felt targeted by managers. We all saw how the cleaners and caterers were treated, and how UVW stood up for them. They were able to win their demands, and it was their fight that inspired me to join UVW. Morale is high despite G4S’s response, which really showed they don’t seem to care about us. They say they won’t negotiate with UVW, even though all the guards have joined. We do not accept that they want to negotiate with a union that doesn’t represent us. We are ready to strike.”

Despite UVW representing all the security guards at Sanctuary Buildings, G4S has refused to engage with UVW, citing the union’s lack of official recognition. However, this does not prevent G4S from negotiating directly with the workers via their union of choice. Instead, G4S has stated it will only negotiate with the GMB union, with whom they hold an official recognition agreement. This agreement was signed over the heads of workers and without their knowledge, despite GMB never having had, nor currently having, any security members at the site.

Adetola Oshin, a security guard of 18 years at DfE and UVW member, said: “The most important demand is the pay rise. I’ve never seen security guards earning lower than cleaners. London Living Wage is not enough – there is no other building near us where guards earn as little as we do. Yet we are trained and qualified professionals. We are all educated, we have master’s degrees, and there is simply no career progression. We are all feeling the pain, and this is why we joined UVW. Striking is our only option – they need to know that we are serious.”

Oshin added: “The night guards are shoved to the side and not recognised, and it’s been like this for a long time. We are treated like the lowest of the low. When we stand at the front door all day, we face the public, and they sometimes abuse and threaten us. At night, people bang on the doors, and when we run to the door, they abuse us. We are the ones facing the atrocities that come at us from outside. Over the past two years, they have given us only one pair of shoes and one uniform that doesn’t fit properly. We don’t have a restroom, so when we are on a break, we just hang around or walk around because the building is busy, and there is nowhere to sit.”

G4S holds contracts with the Government Property Agency (GPA) across at least 39 departmental buildings in London, the North, Scotland and Northern Ireland. Despite the significant revenues of its parent company, reportedly $20 billion, G4S-employed guards continue to face poor pay and working conditions.

Job Centre security guards, members of the GMB union, have alleged breaches of modern slavery and wage laws. PCS union members employed at the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, Cabinet Office, Department for Business and Trade, and Department for Science, Innovation and Technology have also been on strike for £15 per hour.

This is UVW’s second dispute this year at the DfE. Strike action was averted in the summer after cleaners, caterers and print and post room staff reached a deal that included backdating a pay rise (with a pay award of up to £2,500 per worker) and talks over improved sick pay and annual leave.

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