Cleaners working at SOAS have voted in favour of taking strike action over their sick pay, holiday pay and pensions, their union, UNISON, has said.
According to UNISON, 100% of cleaners voted “yes” in the three week-long postal ballot on a turnout of 62%.
The cleaners are outsourced to facilities management firm ISS and as a result are employed on different terms to directly employed SOAS workers. The “Justice for Cleaners” campaign has been fighting for improved conditions for the cleaners since 2007, and have focused on bringing the cleaners “in-house” so that they are directly employed by SOAS with equal to other staff.
The decision to ballot on strike action follows many years of protest through which SOAS management have not met the cleaners’ demands.
It is thought that the cleaners will strike at the beginning of March and UNISON must give SOAS seven days notice of their intention to strike action.