King’s College London is pressuring security, facilities, administrative, catering and other professional services staff to think again about striking for better pay, says UNISON today (Thursday).
New guidance to university managers allows them to discipline security staff who go on strike during their shifts, forcing them to protest only once their work is done, says UNISON. The guidance effectively prevents staff from withdrawing their labour to highlight management failures and mistakes, the union adds.
Other measures include repeatedly calling would-be strikers before they take action and recruiting expensive agency staff to cover gaps on strike days, UNISON says.
Workers already wary of taking industrial action are likely to feel intimidated and harassed by receiving calls from their employer, says UNISON.
King’s managers are also recruiting agency staff to work on campuses on strike days, UNISON says. The high number of agency and subcontracted staff brought in by King’s during strike days raised concerns about the potential unlawfulness of this tactic. Hiring such workers is usually seen as prohibitively expensive but they are being used to cover vacant roles, long-term sickness absences and staff leave.
While they are filling scheduled absences, staff who are not taking action are being shifted over to fill the gaps left by their striking colleagues, helping King’s cushion the impact of the industrial action and undermining the strike. The cost of agency staff, extra pay and other rewards could have been spent on a pay rise for staff instead.
In a cost of living crisis, instead of giving staff the pay rise they need, King’s offered overtime at double pay (usually one and a half times regular pay) to dissuade staff from taking action. The affected staff are predominantly from BAME communities, who are already dealing with an ethnicity pay gap of 19.1% at King’s. Management should be focusing on real solutions to reduce this inequality rather than offering these rates only when trying to mitigate the impact of strike action.
UNISON London regional organiser Ezequiel Kramer said: “King’s likes to portray itself as caring for it’s staff but in reality does exactly the opposite. The university is creating a hostile environment for staff simply standing up for themselves and their families.
“Managers know their below-inflation pay offer will drive people into poverty, but instead of doing the right thing and paying staff properly, they’re splashing out on expensive agencies and using resources to harass and threaten staff.
“Our members are in crisis and struggling to make ends meet. Kings showed they could throw money at staff to undermine the strike, but have been unwilling to address the issues that led to the successful ballot for strike action.
“King’s says that it respects the right of members of staff to take strike action, but at the same time employs anti-union tactics to create a hostile environment for members taking lawful action. Professional Services Staff at the university are overworked, stressed and undervalued, and see no opportunity for career progression. King’s needs to act now.
“University executives need to stop playing cruel games and give employees the pay rise they deserve. Until they do, UNISON will continue to support staff pursuing legal strike action in the face of intimidation.”
Notes to editors:
– Strikes took place at King’s College London on Wednesday 2 and Thursday 3 March 2022 and Tuesday 5 and Wednesday 6 April 2022.
– Workers are demanding an increase in the 1.5% pay offer from the university.
– UNISON is the UK’s largest union with more than 1.3 million members representing public services in education, local government, the NHS, police service and energy. They are employed in the public, voluntary and private sectors.
Media contact:
Nathan Burns M: 07813 722747 E: n.burns@unison.co.uk