The following petition signed by 285 staff members at Goldsmiths was sent to college management on Friday 27 July 2018. We await a response. (You can still add your name here)
Justice For Cleaners Staff Petition
As staff of Goldsmiths College we oppose the impromptu changes that have been made to cleaning staff contracts by outsourcing company ISS and show solidarity to the Justice For Cleaners Campaign to bring Goldsmiths’ cleaning staff in-house. We believe that workers should be treated with respect and consider the work of cleaners to be as valuable as any other form of work that takes place in the university. Without cleaners there would be no knowledge production. Without cleaners there would be no fee payments. The treatment of cleaning staff by ISS, a company renowned for its unscrupulous treatment of its employees, completely contradicts the ethical and professional principles for which Goldsmiths College stands.
Our colleagues who work as cleaners already face significantly worse working conditions than what we expect of Goldsmiths, as these workers are employed by ISS, a large multinational company that hold contracts at many universities, hospitals, public transport services and other businesses. Our colleagues receive no sick pay, no holiday pay, a lack of job security, and heavy workloads. On top of this, ISS is now proposing to
– Get rid of the 7-hour night shift, replacing it with a 4-hour evening shift;
– Get rid of the weekend morning shift, replacing it with an afternoon shift;
– Get rid of the early morning shift, replacing it with a longer mid-morning shift;
– Get rid of the waste day shift, replacing it with a 4-hour shift;
These changes which involved no consultation will have a huge impact on the workers involved, many of whom may not be able to accommodate the changes in shift times and look to lose a substantial amount of income as a result. Many have caring responsibilities, have other employment and live far away from campus. Workers are now facing the prospect of shifts that end in the middle of the night, at a time when transport options are limited and when some, particularly the women staff, feel unsafe travelling home alone. Here is a link to some testimonials from the cleaning staff about the restructuring: https://goldsmithsucu.org/2018/06/12/cleaners-testimonies-cutting-down-on-shopping-wMattould-mean-one-meal-a-day-bring-our-cleaning-staff-back-in-house-now/
Cleaning staff report that they fear losing their homes, having to miss meals in order to feed their families and being unable to manage the additional child care costs that will be involved.
This restructure is part of a wider issue at Goldsmiths. The use of outsourcing has led to a two-tier workforce. While most of us employed in academic and administrative roles at Goldsmiths are employed directly by the university, our colleagues working in catering, cleaning, security, and reception roles are employed by outside companies, often large multinational corporations like ISS. This is usually done as a way to cut costs and to outsource employment responsibilities to less regulated private agencies. These companies make a profit by aggressively undermining workers’ pay and conditions, while Goldsmiths management renounces its duty as an ethical employer to this part of the Goldsmiths community.
On record outsourcing in the university sector has proved to be a less than effective method for saving money in real terms. In 2015 an APSE [Association for Public Service Excellence] report commissioned by SOAS refuted the claims that bringing the cleaners in-house would be inefficient, reporting that meeting the Justice for Cleaners campaign demands would in fact be ‘cost neutral.’[i] Following this report and the effective campaign led by cleaners, campaigners and Unison, SOAS announced that it would be bringing all facilities staff in-house by September 2018. The campaign at SOAS along with historic victory won by LSE cleaners of achieving employment parity with all other LSE workers, and the many other anti-outsourcing campaigns that have emerged in the last few years signal that outsourced workers are deeply dissatisfied with their working conditions and are willing to take matters into their own hands if their concerns are not addressed.[ii]
This also marks a general shift in how university management perceive the sustainability of outsourcing as part of their strategic vision. A commitment to outsourcing reflects an agenda which prioritises cost efficiency over the welfare of employees. This shows an extreme level of negligence over the ethical and professional standards which most progressive universities measure themselves against. The fact that the lowest paid members of staff, most of whom are from migrant and minority backgrounds, are being refused the same terms and conditions as their colleagues calls into question many of the principles and values that higher education institutions profess to stand for and promote. The prospect of fully visible industrial action taken by cleaners for such basic demands is surely something Goldsmiths College would want to avoid. Such an eventuality would undoubtedly mar Goldsmiths College’s reputation as a critically minded, politically progressive and conscientious institution.
In order that staff and student satisfaction is kept at the levels Goldsmiths College likes to boast of, relations between management and staff should not be delegated to a third party company, but should be brought in-house. Close professional and collegial relationships between all staff, students and management is central to cultivating a safe, fulfilling and fruitful learning and teaching environment. This is as much the case for facilities staff as it is for academic staff.
It is also imperative that Goldsmiths distances itself from ISS. ISS previously held a contract at SOAS, where in one particularly gross betrayal of trust, ISS management called an emergency meeting for all cleaning staff where, once inside, they were met by at least 20 immigration officers dressed in full riot gear, who detained and later deported some workers. The cleaners were locked in a classroom and escorted one-by-one into another classroom where they were interrogated. They neither had access to union support nor legal representation and many were allegedly unable to fully understand what was happening due to the absence of interpreters. Six of the workers were forcibly removed to South American countries, including Colombia, where gross human rights abuses against trade unionists are regularly documented. Two workers were subsequently held in immigration detention for a sustained period of time. All of this was done as a form of intimidation and to discourage other agency workers from fighting for union representation and a ‘living wage’.[iii] The threat that ISS could at any moment perpetrate such coercive and duplicitous actions creates a hostile environment for cleaners to work within. Surely this state of affairs contradicts many if not all of the values that Goldsmiths College stands for?
ISS has previously been embroiled in a similar controversy when cleaners on the London tube made allegations of intimidation, bullying and being threatened with dismissals whilst striking for a ‘living wage’[iv]. Further acts of anti-union intimidation, victimisation and employment malpractice by ISS have been recorded at branches of HSBC[v], branches of Ernst & Young[vi], various hospitals across the country[vii], East Coast rail service,[viii] and, in one of their more high profile scandals, Premier Inn, which featured in an episode of Channel 4’s documentary series Dispatches.[ix] The onus is on senior management of Goldsmiths College to reconsider supporting such toxic companies.
Currently ISS are using the same intimidation tactics at Goldsmiths. Cleaners have been encouraged to steer clear of their union, have been prevented from discussing the changes to their contracts, and ISS have broken off all communication with Unison in their efforts to represent the cleaners’ concerns about these recent changes.
The university’s three year contract with ISS comes to an end on 31st October 2018. Goldsmiths management are currently undergoing a costing exercise before making a decision on whether to in-source cleaning staff, award a 12 month extension to ISS in lieu of extending the contract for another three years or put the contract out to tender to find another outsourcing company. This re-tender exercise would need to start in July to meet the October deadline. We hope that Goldsmiths College will follow other University of London institutions and prioritize the demands of its employees to be brought in-house when it makes this decision.
As workers at Goldsmiths, we show solidarity with the concerns of our colleagues and hope to make the Senior Management Team and the university council aware that there is a great deal of support across the university in favour of having cleaning staff brought in-house. We believe swift and decisive action now, in line with Goldsmiths values of being socially aware and socially engaged, actively promoting sustainability and fostering a social and intellectual community within, and beyond, Goldsmiths, will serve the long term interests of the college.[x]
Cleaning staff ‘are not the dirt they clean’ as the cleaners of the LSE campaign put it, they deserve respect and employment parity. If neither of these are delivered following the costing exercise we are fully prepared to stand with our colleagues in their campaign for justice.
In Solidarity, Goldsmiths College Staff
A shorter version of this letter was published on the 24th July 2018 in the Guardian newspaper signed by 150 members of Goldsmiths staff: https://www.theguardian.com/education/2018/jul/24/in-support-of-goldsmiths-cleaners-and-prof-james-newell
[ii] https://soasspirit.co.uk/news/apse-j4c/
[iii] http://www.irr.org.uk/news/soas-occupied-after-cleaners-detained-and-forcibly-removed/
[iv] https://www.rmt.org.uk/news/rmt-slams-iss-bullying-and-intimidation-of-tube-cleaners/, http://www.brightonsolfed.org.uk/south-london/supporting-striking-tube-cleaners
[v]https://www.pcs.org.uk/pcs-in-hm-revenue-and-customs-group/latest-news/pay-and-conditions-of-iss-cleaning-staff, http://caiwu.org.uk/wp/2017/05/05/support-the-hsbc-cleaners/
[vii] http://www.gmb.org.uk/newsroom/iss-santa-pig, http://www.gmb.org.uk/newsroom/iss-payslip-row-at-woolwich-and-kingston-hospitals, http://www.fm-world.co.uk/news/fm-industry-news/gmb-calls-for-strike-over-two-tier-hospital-workforce/
[viii] https://www.rmt.org.uk/news/iss-east-coast-cleaners-strike-again-this-week/
[ix] https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/premier-inn-housekeepers-use-same-12013548, https://www.thecaterer.com/articles/520651/premier-inn-investigates-housekeeping-documentary-allegations
[x] https://www.gold.ac.uk/strategy/
Catherine Edlin Bellamy, Computing
Jason HIckel, Anthropology
Suhail Malik, Art
Marina Vishmidt, Media and Communications
Roberto Mozzachiodi, Media and Communications
Peter Rees, Politics and International Relations
Sasha Litvintseva, Media and Communications
Alexander Coupe, Theatre and Performance
Nicole Wolf, Visual Cultures
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Des Freedman, Media and Communications
Astrid Schmetterling, Visual Cultures
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Nikolaus Perneczky, Media and Communications
Jon K Shaw, Visual Cultures
Annie Goh, Media and Communications
Louis Moreno, Visual Cultures
Jamie Forth, Computing
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Conrad Moriarty-Cole, Media and Communications
Christopher Law, English and Comparative Literature
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Kaoru Takahashi, Sociology
Emma Jackson, Sociology
Sophie Corser, English and Comparative Literature
Gloria Ojosipe Library
Gabriel Dattatreyan, Anthropology
Richard Hull, Institute for Creative & Cultural Entrepreneurship
Andrew Fisher, Department of Visual Cultures, Goldsmiths
Rachel Hughes, Social, Therapeutic and Community Studies
Bonamy Oliver, Department of Psychology
Rebecca Chamberlain, Department of Psychology
Maggie Pitfield, Department of Educational Studies
Alice Andrews, Department of Visual Cultures
Milly Williamson, Media Communications and Cultural Studies
Michael Guggenheim, Department of Sociology
Les Back, Dept of Sociology
Amanda Kipling, Department of Educational Studies
Elizabeth Evans, Department of Politics
Abigail Shinn, English and Comparative Literature
Jennifer Fleetwood,Department of Sociology
Jon Martyn, Stacs
Pat Caplan (Anthropology – Emeritus)
Anna Grant, Department of Educational Studies
Chloe Nast, Department of Sociology
Francisca Grommé, Department of Sociology
Viola Eidenbenz, English Language Centre
Will Davies, Department of Politics and International Relations
Claire Baily, Department of Art
Marian Carty, Educational Studies
Richard MacDonald, Media & Communications
Vik Loveday, Dept of Sociology
Sanjay Seth (Department of Politics and International Relations)
Edward Bagenal, Design
Sarah Pearce, Educational Studies
John Wadsworth – Educational Studies
Florence Platford, English and Comparative Literature
Ben Webb, Sociology
Caspar Addyman, Psychology
Martin Savransky, Department of Sociology
Keith Potter, Department of Music
Ian Hunt, Department of Art
Matthew Fuller, Media & Communications
Kevin Ward, Department of Art
Aleksandar Brkic, Institute for Creative and Cultural Entrepreneurship
David Mabb, Department of Art
Helena Reckitt, Department of Art
Sally Alexander, Dept History
E Gonzalez-Polledo, Anthropology
Eva Sbaraini, Department of Art
Edgar Schmitz, Art
Frances Wilson, English and Comparative Literature
Claudia Bernard, Social, Therapeutic and Community Studies
Rajyashree Pandey, Politics and International Relations
Thomas Greenwood, Media and Communications
Kevin Jones Social, Therapeutic and Community Studies
Jonathan Koestle-Cate, Media and Communications
Tassia Kobylinska, Media and Communications
Sara Linden, Institute for Creative and Cultural Entrepreneurship
Sara Ewing, Academic Skills Centre
Deirdre Daly, Academic Skills Centre
Rachel Reupke, Art Dept
Jimmy Turner, Anthropology
Stella Harvey, English Language Centre
Isaac Marrero-Guillamon, Anthropology
Katherine Robinson, Department of Sociology
Deirdre Osborne, Theatre and Performance
María Gabriela López Yánez, Theatre and Performance
Andy Boucher, Design
Barbara Mahlknecht, Art Department
Heather Marks, Theatre and Performance
David Chatting, Design
Lucy Clout, Art Dept
William Gaver, Design
Andy Sheen, Design
Lizzie Reed, Sociology
Jen Molinera, Design
Faith Denham, Design
Shruti Desai, Media and Communications
Samantha Rowe, Theatre & Performance
Andy Freeman, Maths and Computing
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Tom Henderson, Politics and International Relations
Dan McQuillan, Computing
Manzar Samii, Media and Communications
Aysha Babur, Theatre & Performance
Sandra Kazlauskaite, Media & Communications
Damian Owen-Board, Media & Communications
Andrew Gray, Library
Marilyn Clarke, Library
Maria Thomas, ECL
Carla Ibled, Politics and International Relations
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Liam Healy, Design
Susan Kelly, Art
Joe Leam, Students Union
JT, Students Union
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Mona Monir, Students Union
Naomi Thompson, STACS
Rory Cheal, Media and Communications
Martin Conreen, Design
Richard Brett, Design
Adnan Madani, Visual Cultures
Tom Clark, Department of Art
Sian Prime, ICCE
Jennifer Gabrys, Sociology
Mischa Twitchin, Theatre and Performance
Tuur Van Balen, Design
Nicholas Mortimer, Design
Alice Corble, Sociology
Marie-Gabrielle Rotie Theatre and Performance
Tomáš Kašpar, Music Department
Carl Dunford-Gent, Library
Lewis Barton, Media and Communications
Katie Simpson, Library
Ceiren Bell, Media and Communications
Evelyn Jamieson, Library
Maria O’Hara, Library
Alice Hughes, Library
Angus Sinclair, Library
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Diana Stevenson, Library
Joe Newman, Music
Ifor Duncan, ELC and Visual Cultures
Daniel Neofetou, Library
Priya Sharma, Media and Communications
Jan de Fockert, Psychology
Emily Rosamond, Department of Visual Cultures
Miranda Armstrong, PhD student, Sociology
Yari Lanci, PhD candidate, Sociology
Gary Riley-Jones, English Language Centre
Evelyn Ruppert, Sociology
Derek Wall, Department of Politics and International Relations
Jeremy Peyton Jones, Music
Matt Ward, Design
Jeremiah Spillane, Library
James Ewers, Music
Gholam Khiabany, Media and Communications
Danielle Joyce, Library
Ciarán Ó Dochartaigh, PHD student, Art department
Chris Boone, Library
Carol Clarkson, Department of Visual Cultures
June Melody, Department of Media and Communications
Frances Pine, Anthropology
Ignacio Rivera, Sociology
Jeremy Larkins, Politics and International Relations
Hortense Blue Maignien, Library
Robert Gordon, Theatre and Performance
Sue Mayo, Lecturer, Theatre & Performance
Frances Wilson, Department of English and Comparative Literature
Anastasia Stouraiti, History
Daniel Ross, Music
Joseph Noonan-Ganley, Art
Diana Josan, Library
Gavin Weston, Anthropology
Thomas Hoagy Dunnell, Art
Emma Tarlo, Anthropology
John Reardon, Artist in residence Politics Department
Mark Taylor, Social Work Lecturer
Signe Gosmann, Anthropology
Maria N Ivanova, Politics
Jane Offerman, Psychology
Lesley Morris, Art Psychotherapy
Andrew Kingham, Media & Communications
Steve Keirl, Design
Mick Grierson, Professor of Computing
Peter Roberts, Teaching & Learning Innovation Centre
Kate Scappaticci, Department of Educational Studies
Alice Maud, Department of Anthropology
Robert Gordon, Theatre and Performance
Ozden Sahin, Media & Communications and Library
Alexander du Toit, Archive Cataloguer
Simon Deacon, Department of Music
Jose van Velzen, Department of Psychology
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Dan Strutt, Media and Communications
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Kat Jungnickel, Sociology
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Nick Bell, Media and Communications
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Simon Griffiths, Politics
Philip Palmer, Senior Lecturer, Media and Communications
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Louis Busby, Post Doc, Computing
Charlotte Joy, Lecturer in Anthropology
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Oana Parvan, Dept. Media, Communications and Cultural Studies
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Sean Cubitt, Media and Communications
Catherine Grant, Lecturer, Art
Mohammad Majid al-Rifaie, Lecturer, Computing
Jorella Andrews, Visual Cultures
Pauline von Hellermann, Senior Lecturer in Anthropology
James Curran, Professor of Communications
Len Platt, Professor of Modern Literatures, Educational Studies
Louise Chambers, Lecturer, Media and Communications
Clea Bourne, Senior Lecturer, Media and Communications
Mike Waller Professor of Design
Dave Watson, Media and Communications
Chris Price, Design
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Nigel Bristow, Convenor MA Directing Fiction
Maria Tsiko, Politics & IR
Toby Austin Locke, Associate Lecturer in Anthropology
Andrea Mura, Department of Politics & IR
James Burton, Lecturer, Cultural Studies and Cultural History
Arnold Borgerth, Lecturer, Media and Communications
Helen Cornish, Anthropology
Martin Webb, Anthropology
Daniel Rourke, Lecturer, Media and Communications
Svenja Bromberg, Lecturer, Sociology
Michael Newman, Professor of Art Writing
Stefan Zambinski, Media and Communications
Rosalyn George Education
Brendan Prendeville, Visual Cultures
Jessa Mockridge, Library
Frederic F. Leymarie, Computing
Tamar Steinitz, English and Comparative Literature
Daisy Asquith, Convenor, Screen Documentary
Nigel Perkins, Lecturer, Department of Media and Communications.
Nicky Donald, Computing
Tracy Bass, Media and Communications
Rebekah Price, Library
Theo Kindynis, Department of Sociology
Nick Taylor, Politics & IR
Martyn Wemyss, Anthropology
Stephen Nugent. Professor Emeritus, Anthropology
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Roberto Casaluce, Library
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Caro Feistritzer, Media&Communications
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Shirin Shahidi, Media and Communications
Bill Gabbett, Media, Communications and Cultural Studies.
Silvia Rosani, Music Department and Library
Oonagh Murphy, ICCE
Olivia Arigho-Stiles, Communications Coordinator, Students’ Union
Ruby Hoette, Design
Rosa Crepax, Sociology
Lennaart van Oldenborgh, Media & Communications
Fay Dennis, Sociology
Magdalena Krysztoforska, Library
Jacqueline Ahwieh, Theatre and Performance
Cindy Strobach, Design
Saini Manninen, Media and Communications
Orly Siow, Politics
Jacqueline Rattray, English and Comparative Literature
Marzia MacCaferri, Department of Politics and International Relations
Raed Yacoub, Teaching and Learning Innovation Centre
Tim Crook, Media & Communications
Gyorgyi Szentirmai, Media & Communications
Jacob Love, Media and Communications
Rachel Ibreck, Politics and International Relations
Sally Pearce, Media and Communications
John Jackson-Mooney, Media and Communications
Angela Phillips Media and Communications
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Carl Levy, Politics and International Relations
Yasmin Gunaratnam, Sociology
Coral McCarthy, Education
Sam Kelly, Education
Jane-May Martin, Sociology
Marcus Aitken, Education
Dave Bailey, Education
Rose Thomas Stopher, Education
David Brenner, Politics and International Relations
Paula Ktorides, History
Yael Gerson, Department of Educational Studies & Anthropology
Macarena Yarza, Department of Educational Studies
Francis Gilbert, Department of Educational Studies
Martin Williams, Department of Educational Studies
Katharina Richter, Politics
Monica Greco, Sociology
Margarita Aragon, Sociology
Sheryl Clark, Department of Educational Studies
Vana Goblot, Media and Communications
Liz Moor, Media and Communications
Ville Takala, Sociology
Michaela Benson, Sociology
Joanna Lorent, Library staff
Michael Dutton, Politics and International Relations
Kate Nash, Sociology
Violet Fearon, Sociology
Robina Wilson, Library
Alice Dunseath, Media and Communications
Leanne Benford, Media and Communications
Erica Wald, History
Ariel Hessayon, History
Rosie Kennedy, History
Juliet Sprake, Design
Lee Thurgood, Accommodation
Aparajita Mukhopadhyay, History
Harry Hunt, Accommodation
Andy Roper, Student Recruitment
Olly Bellamy, IT&IS
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Ian Hannent, Psychology
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Samiah Anderson, Forensic Architecture (Visual Cultures)
Richard von Abendorff, Unison International Officer
Hannah Lines, Student Recruitment
Bob Trafford, Forensic Architecture (Visual Cultures)
Sarah Nankivell, Forensic Architecture (Visual Cultures)
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Sarah Willerton, UNISON rep
Kathryn Adams, Student Recruitment
David Cross, Student Recruitment
Laura Belinky, Media and Communications
Jack Selby, Student Recruitment
Franc Camps Febrer, Forensic Architecture (Visual Cultures)
Stephen Pigott, Student Recruitment
Shannon Stowers, Student Recruitment
Lorenzo Pezzani, Centre for Research Architecture (Visual Cultures)
Mariam Motamedi-Fraser, Sociology
Dan Taylor, History
Richard Grayson, History
Jan Plamper, History
Michael Franklin, ICCE
Karen Rumsey, Research and Enterprise
Emmy Gregory, Research and Enterprise
Susan Jean, Research and Enterprise
Rebecca Coleman, Sociology
Chris French, Psychology
Laura Henneke, Sociology
Nadia Xarcha, Research Office
Elaine Williams, Sociology
Amanda Hope Macari, Media and Communications
Daniel Müllensiefen, Psychology
Alice Elliot, Anthropology