SOAS Cleaners Still Cry For Justice
By Zoe Smith-Holladay, President of Justice for Workers, BA History of Art & History
Established in 2006 by the SOAS cleaning team, the Justice for Workers Campaign (J4W) is a collaboration between cleaners, student activists and sympathetic academics at SOAS. For over 19 years, J4W’s tireless advocacy for equitable treatment has been the driving force behind exceptional victories, not just for the cleaning staff, but for all SOAS employees, including the in-house employment of security, catering, reception, and maintenance staff in August of 2018. But many on the cleaning team say that the current situation is more dire than ever.
Many on the cleaning team still remember being called into work under the pretence of an emergency meeting in the early morning hours of June 12th, 2009, only to be forcefully detained by over 40 UK border patrol agents in riot gear. As per Freedom News “every year, 12th June is commemorated by Justice for Workers (J4W) – a campaign started in 2006 by majority Latin American cleaning staff at School of Oriental & African Studies (SOAS) to fight for the fair working conditions of all workers at the university. The cleaning team were called into SOAS under the pretence of a 6AM emergency meeting, an immigration raid was then carried out with full knowledge and complicity of the university’s management, resulting in the deportation of nine staff members”.
The already tenuous situation was aggravated by the 46% reduction in the cleaning staff during the COVID-19 pandemic. SOAS chose not to rehire following the return to campus, leaving only 20 cleaners responsible for what was the work of 57. Upon request, SOAS Press Office refused to give an official statement but remarked, “Cleaning requirements during the pandemic also reduced because the buildings were not being used due to the legal requirement to stay at home.” However, this does not explain why the size of the cleaning team has not increased following the return to campus in 2022.
On the state of affairs today, a member of the cleaning team lamented, “We are faced with incompetent task coordination and an overwhelming level of complaints about harassment, victimisation and inappropriate treatment by line managers. It’s truly distressing.” Another complained, “Our personal lockers were opened without warning and medication and personal belongings disappeared.” The power imbalance between the cleaning staff, primarily non-native English speakers from Latin America, and their employers leaves them vulnerable to exploitation. Even worse, there is no effective route for the cleaners to seek remedy. Their formal grievance cases go without follow-up or resolution for months at a time.
The SOAS Press Office stated, “Our cleaning staff are highly valued members of our workforce. When SOAS brought a range of frontline staff including cleaners in-house in 2018, staff in our campus services team became directly employed by the university, with the full workforce put on equal terms and conditions,” making no mention of the longstanding and formidable fight by the cleaning team for in-house employment and rewriting history to take full credit. Additionally, they stated, “At SOAS the number of staff on temporary and part-time contracts has decreased since we introduced a rota system in 2021, which has reduced the headcount.” However, members of the cleaning staff have denounced this rota system as dysfunctional and impractical. For instance, two cleaners are now tasked with cleaning the entire Phillips Building in just three and a half hours.
The SOAS Press concluded by saying, “While we cannot comment on individual staffing matters, we would encourage staff experiencing any form of discrimination or who may need support for a workplace dispute to raise these through the channels available at SOAS. Staff should contact their line managers or, if they do not feel able to do so, contact the Human Resources department.” This highlights the SOAS administration’s blatant disconnect from the reality faced by the SOAS cleaning staff as they attempt to navigate an ineffective and inefficient system that further alienates those it claims to protect.
Student action and awareness has always been a crucial aspect of the J4W Campaign. This year’s Justice for Workers Campaign has worked tirelessly to mobilize students through rallies, free weekly coffee breaks with the cleaning team, teach-ins in solidarity with the striking Graduate Teaching Assistants, and community outreach, including an upcoming Late License collaboration with Latin Society this month. But the heightened presence of security and surveillance, combined with the suspension of several students protesting for Palestine last year, seem to have discouraged and stifled student activism.
Cristyn, a concerned SOAS student and member of J4W, declared, “Part of what’s made the cleaning team’s struggle so difficult is that their labour is invisible. It’s difficult to notice the absence of something - the absence of dirt, of trash, of smells. Because students and staff alike don’t notice the labour behind keeping our campus clean, those doing the labour are easily forgotten. This makes them vulnerable to harassment, mistreatment and discrimination. But the cleaning staff are members of our community that deserve our care and attention. The conditions they have been facing are frankly shocking. It’s well past time for the rest of the SOAS community to take notice and take action.”
The cleaning staff demand official follow-ups to grievance cases, a functional rota, the restructuring of the daily tasks system, the beginner English classes that they were promised over a decade ago, respect for the existing SOAS policies and procedures designed to protect them, and an immediate end to all abuse of power. As students, scholars, and members of the SOAS community, it is our duty to ensure that SOAS is held to the core values that it espouses: equality, freedom of expression, transparency, and accountability. That means standing in solidarity with the SOAS cleaning team. Creating a better future does not begin at the United Nations, the World Health Organization, or the Red Cross. Our work begins in our own community, on our own campus.
Learn how you can get involved today on J4W’s Instagram, @soasjusticeforworkers.
