Stow College strikers solidarity sausage stand
Striking for a living wage at Stow College
by Richie Venton, SSP national trade union organiser 13-10-11
Low paid canteen and cleaning staff at Glasgow's STOW college are staging a series of strikes.
These UNISON members are winning massive support from teaching staff (EIS members) and students, as well as the wider public. Queues form daily to buy their sizzling solidarity sausages, at the elaborately decorated 'tent' the pickets have mounted outside the college gates!
In a petty act of intimidation - which entirely backfired and only served to harden the strikers' resolve - college top management called out the police and then council environmental services, to check if the food was up to hygiene standards! Of course it is; these are catering staff, who know what they're doing - and are collecting generous donations to sustain their strike, which is what management really object to.
At the heart of the dispute is the struggle for the extremely modest Scottish Living Wage (£7.20 an hour) and against prvatisation of cleaning and catering.
One of the pickets, told me, "We are taking the selective strike action because the union can afford to pay us on strike days - which goes to show just how low paid we are!"
I spoke to a STOW college UNISON member about the issues behind the strike, and what fellow-trade unionists can do to help them win a speedy victory.
"The context of this is last year's Budget announcement by John Swinney that low paid workers, as a minimum, should be protected against the worst excesses of the recession. He asked for this to be done by the unions showing pay restraint but with workers employed by public bodies earning under £21,000 being given £250, and the Scottish Living Wage being guarateed, which is now £7.20 an hour.
"We have at least 20 members on about £6.63.
"Last year STOW college management said they would give the Scottish Living Wage this year and in return we took another below-inflation wage settlement.
"UNISON and the EIS jointly proposed a package of savings for the college, including the £80,000 hospitality budget; overseas travel not linked to income (including Board meetings and management taking their families abroad for awards events); bringing the graduation in-house instead of sumptuous affairs at the Royal Concert Hall; contractors and consultants being replaced by our own workers doing the jobs; and an end to Board of management events, with overnight stays, at expensive hotels.
"Management's reply was 'No' to all that.
"STOW is a college that lost significant numbers of staff. We have faced cuts to courses, carried out under the radar, such as Special Needs Provision being cut by half; fewer part-time student places for people seeking asylum; an end to the part-time photography course.
"In this year's pay round we asked for three things: the Scottish Living Wage immediately; a pay rise for the rest of our members; and guarantees against privatisation of any areas of the service.
"'No' was the management reply!
"They said they don't have the money now to implement the Scottish Living Wage - which we calculate would cost only £7,000 to £8,000. They also imposed a pay freeze and privatisation of the remainder of cleaning and the canteen.
"We showed that this is a nonsense, that it would cost the college money as private companies would take money out of the college, rather than make savings.
"For two years UNISON led the Hands Off STOW campaign, to save the college from potential closure, saving the necks of senior management in the process. This is our reward: pay cuts, low pay and privatisation of the people who helped save the place.
"So we balloted for industrial action in June, with an overwhelming vote to strike. Management did nothing over the whole summer to find a settlement, so here we are taking strike action.
"Last week, after the first day of strike action, management promised a meeting this week to discuss our alternatives to out-sourcing and to seek a resolution to the dispute. But instead of meeting with us, they hit us with the announcement that the cleaners will be out-sourced on 1st November and catering on 1st January.
"Their reasons are cynical. They want to out-source jobs to avoid paying the Scottish Living Wage, as private companies are under no obligation to pay it, and to downgrade and slim down the workforce in preparation for the future. And that is something other colleges will probably try to repeat, with worsened services, terms and conditions eroded ... your starter for ten!
"We have written an open letter to John Swinney and Mike Russell to intervene.
"We have full strike action on 25th and 26th October where we hope supporters will call at our picket lines.
"Write to MSPs, MPs and councillors backing our claim, against management who are neither consulting nor negotiating with us, just informing us of their decisions - because nobody is putting the brakes on them."