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23.05.2025 / News /

UVW is more than a union

UVW is more than a union

This weekend, 17 May 2025, cleaners, security guards, carers, hospitality staff and workers from the design and cultural sectors gathered to reflect, strategise, and celebrate a year of powerful collective action at UVW’s Annual General Meeting (AGM). 

United by their shared struggles as low-paid, migrant and precarious workers, UVW members came not just to listen, but to lead on how to achieve UVW’s mission: build power and solidarity in workplaces and communities through collective, legal and direct action.

AGM delegates heard about one of the year’s most inspiring achievements – UVW’s largest ever coordinated strike during the Christmas period. Workers from five prestigious institutions walked off the job together, disrupting operations and showing bosses what solidarity looks like. Harrods alone saw 250 cleaners, hospitality and retail staff strike in UVW’s biggest single-site action to date.

Stories of resistance and success from even the smallest workplaces – some with just a handful of staff – were also shared. They reminded everyone that UVW believes no workplace is too small to organise and no worker too isolated to fight back.

Another highlight was the Emanuel Gomes Organising School (EGOS), named after a UVW member who tragically died during the pandemic. Delegates heard about the eight-week programme that saw dozens of new organisers trained up, many of whom now lead workplace campaigns across London.

UVW casework and tribunal support was also front and centre.  Over the last year, UVW has secured over £800,000 in compensation for its members through legal and tribunal wins. UVW continued to challenge discrimination, structural racism and outsourcing in court, including high-profile cases against Amazon and Great Ormond Street Hospital.

Delegates reviewed and scrutinised the union’s finances that demonstrate sustainability. They also heard from the members of the Executive Committee about the coming elections in 2026 for a new General Secretary and Executive Committee.

Importantly, the AGM wasn’t just about looking back, but a forum for discussion and for shaping UVW’s future. With a focus on individual and collective power, delegates discussed the barriers to building power and identified the solutions, which would be turned into action by UVW. 

As the meeting closed, a clear message resonated: UVW is more than a union; it’s a community. A community where migrant workers lead the fight for dignity, equality and respect. And with each new member, each strike and each legal win, UVW grows stronger, ready to take on the next battle together.

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