The Campaign is pleased to announce a small victory: from 1st October, employees of Chartwells, the catering company contracted by UCL to provide catering services, have been paid the current London Living Wage (£8.30/hour). After UCL buckled under pressure and agreed to pay the LLW in September 2010, Chartwell’s employees had their wages raised to the then-LLW of £7.85. However, in May 2011, when the LLW was raised by the Greater London Authority to £8.30 (the largest rise in its history due to rocketing living costs), the wages of Chartwells employees remained at the previous rate. The Campaign heard from some workers that they were told that they wouldn’t get another raise ‘for years’. At the same time, nine staff had their contracts cut from 52 to 40 weeks, a shameful 25% pay cut over the year.
The agreement to finally pay the current LLW rate comes after negotiations between Chartwells and UCLU, the students’ union. The Campaign understands that UCLU took the position that, as Chartwells were not a LLW employer, they could not have their usual space at the UCLU Welcome Fair on 27th and 28th September, which is one of the largest freshers’ fairs in London, attended by perhaps 15,000 students. In response, Chartwells gave UCLU this signed agreement:
‘Further to your e-mail dated 13th September 2012, I can confirm that the current London Living Wage of £8.30 will be implemented from 1st October and that a back dated payment will be calculated and awarded to affected employees. In addition, future pay increases to staff will be aligned to future London Living Wage increases.’
The pledge to back-date the payment is particularly welcome, considering that by October it will have been 16 months since the new rate was introduced. Edwin Clifford-Coupe, Education & Campaigns Officer at UCLU, who ran on a platform of supporting the LLW, and who negotiated with Chartwells, had this to say.
‘UCLU raised this in a meeting with the Provost and other senior managers in July. As nothing appeared to have been done about it, we took the opinion that Chartwells were not welcome at the Welcome Fair. This agreement, including the promise to back-date and to raise wages in future, is very welcome, and must be followed by real action. We have passed it on to UCL UNISON, the trade union which represents the workers. We hope that Chartwells will keep their word, so that we can engage with them in future.’
The UCL Living Wage Campaign believes this a perfect example of why UCL must keep the Campaign involved in the process of implementation, which it has not been doing. If, as it seems, UCL and the contractors are not going to make it a priority to regularly check that workers at UCL are paid enough to stay out of poverty, it falls to the Campaign. We will be especially vigilant this November, when the LLW is set to rise again, perhaps to as much as £9/hour; the pay of Chartwells workers must rise with it, with no reduction in hours like last time.
