Improved pay and conditions for the University of East London Cleaners
The Issue
The UEL cleaners are facing unfair pay, rising workloads, cuts to holidays & contracts, and favouritism at work.
Cleaners at UEL are paid virtually the same rate regardless of their skills or responsibilities. Nviro also refuses to award an appropriately higher rate to those in positions of extra responsibility. The company has even created a new position of ‘Charge Hand’, which confers all the responsibilities of a supervisor but at a rate of just 20p an hour above that paid to ordinary cleaners.
Cleaners say they are expected to complete the workload of two or three people in a single shift.
They also say that annual leave allowances have been cut. Cleaners who work two shifts in different buildings can even end up with no holiday at all, because holiday is allocated separately for each workspace. In this way, cleaners can be on leave for one shift, yet have to come in and work the other.
At the same time, Nviro have cut cleaners’ contracts from 52 weeks to 29 weeks a year, or 39 in some cases. Nviro explain this by claiming that cleaners aren’t needed during vacations, but this is not true, as cleaners are still required for events outside of teaching time. Nviro have also amended cleaners’ contracts to terminate a month before the end of the academic term, but will then request that cleaners work shifts during that non-contracted time.
Cleaners also say that UEL is rife with favouritism. For example, promotions are routinely offered to staff who are friendly with managers, while being denied to cleaners who have worked for Nviro for up to a decade or more. Similarly, cleaners say they are denied access to training and development opportunities in favour of preferred colleagues.
Although the cleaners are continuing to negotiate with Nviro in an attempt to resolve the issues, their long term goal is an end to the outsourcing arrangement. They want to work for the university directly as used to be the case, and say the university could even save money if it wasn't paying Nviro to make a profit out of their work.
Petition Closed
The Issue
The UEL cleaners are facing unfair pay, rising workloads, cuts to holidays & contracts, and favouritism at work.
Cleaners at UEL are paid virtually the same rate regardless of their skills or responsibilities. Nviro also refuses to award an appropriately higher rate to those in positions of extra responsibility. The company has even created a new position of ‘Charge Hand’, which confers all the responsibilities of a supervisor but at a rate of just 20p an hour above that paid to ordinary cleaners.
Cleaners say they are expected to complete the workload of two or three people in a single shift.
They also say that annual leave allowances have been cut. Cleaners who work two shifts in different buildings can even end up with no holiday at all, because holiday is allocated separately for each workspace. In this way, cleaners can be on leave for one shift, yet have to come in and work the other.
At the same time, Nviro have cut cleaners’ contracts from 52 weeks to 29 weeks a year, or 39 in some cases. Nviro explain this by claiming that cleaners aren’t needed during vacations, but this is not true, as cleaners are still required for events outside of teaching time. Nviro have also amended cleaners’ contracts to terminate a month before the end of the academic term, but will then request that cleaners work shifts during that non-contracted time.
Cleaners also say that UEL is rife with favouritism. For example, promotions are routinely offered to staff who are friendly with managers, while being denied to cleaners who have worked for Nviro for up to a decade or more. Similarly, cleaners say they are denied access to training and development opportunities in favour of preferred colleagues.
Although the cleaners are continuing to negotiate with Nviro in an attempt to resolve the issues, their long term goal is an end to the outsourcing arrangement. They want to work for the university directly as used to be the case, and say the university could even save money if it wasn't paying Nviro to make a profit out of their work.
The Decision Makers
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Petition created on 25 February 2020