Security guards are the latest group to confirm they will take part in what is set to be the biggest day of industrial action in the UK in decades.
Members of the IWGB union working for contractors at London university UCL will stage a walkout on February 1 as part of a campaign for a pay rise to £15 an hour. Meanwhile, teachers, train drivers, civil servants, and university lecturers will go on strike on the same day in growing disputes over pay, jobs, and working conditions.
The TUC will also organise a nationwide protest on February 1 against the government's controversial proposed law on making unions agree to provide minimum levels of service during strike action. Unions have argued that the legislation will allow workers to be sacked even though they legally voted to strike.
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Now, the Independent Workers’ Union of Great Britain (IWGB) has announced that its members working as outsourced security guards at UCL will also strike on February 1. Henry Chango Lopez, general secretary of IWGB said: “UCL’s use of outsourcing is outdated and exploitative.
“Workers face systemic discrimination in the form of poor pay and treatment from their subcontractors, and are ignored and belittled when they demand change.”
Who will be going on strike on February 1?
A wide variety of unions across different industries will be taking industrial action on February 1. They include the following:
Members of the IWGB union working for contractors at London university UCL
- More than 100,000 teachers in the National Education Union
More than 100,000 civil servants at the Public and Commercial Service union from 123 departments, including government ministries, driving test centres, museums, ports and airports
- More than 70,000 members of the University and College Union across 150 universities
- Rail, Maritime and Transport union (RMT) drivers at 14 train operators
- Aslef train drivers
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