Outsourced workers at City University, London

That this House believes that all workers in the UK’s universities and colleges deserve the real Living Wage as a minimum rate and to be treated with respect and dignity at work including having access to occupational sick pay and a decent pension scheme; regrets that people employed in ancillary roles such as cleaning and catering and outsourced to private contractors face a struggle to defend their basic pay, terms and conditions at work especially when compared to directly employed colleagues in the university sector; notes that such workers are far more likely to be female and/or to come from Black and Minority Ethnic and recent migrant backgrounds; further notes that support staff employed by the French-based multinational Sodexo and Julius Rutherfoord & Co at City University, London are currently eligible for limited statutory sick pay and an inferior pension scheme, while City University’s administration has indicated it will not insource those workers or ensure parity of such basic employment rights; and gives its full support and solidarity to the campaign by City University branch of the UNISON trade union to secure parity of terms and conditions with university employees and the transfer of those workers to direct employment by the university at the earliest opportunity.