by Helen O'Connor

Cleaners and catering staff employed across South London and Maudsley NHS Trust have been embroiled in a trade dispute with their employer ISS. ISS world is a powerful transnational company with a turnover of billions and it had revenue growth of 10.3% in 2023. South London and Maudsley (SLaM) is a large mental health foundation trust spanning four London boroughs. SLaM awarded ISS the cleaning and catering contract in 2019.

Once a public sector contract is outsourced, the new employer, in this case ISS, has the right to hire workers on their own, always inferior, pay terms and conditions as cost cutting becomes the priority. The workers or their representatives lose access to engage with the NHS employer, they lose access to the human resources and the NHS staff welfare structures. They work inside the NHS and for the NHS but they are treated as though they are outside and separate from the NHS, as a second class group of workers. The hurt of being treated differently, as though they are lesser, hits hard, particularly as so many of these workers are first generation migrants to this country.

 ISS GMB members decided to fight back, and they have now taken 13 full days of strike action and they were on course to take a further 8 days starting on the 27th of July. This dispute has been well led by the GMB representatives from the outset, the picket lines have been large, and the strikes have been solid. These striking migrant workers have marched on Canary Wharf and parliament in large numbers as they bring their message to end outsourcing right into the heart of London.

Many of the striking workers are women. They have found themselves trapped into working long hours on very low pay. Some of the women work two or three jobs to accumulate enough hours to make ends meet leaving little time for relaxation or family life.

Dignity at work is an issue and bullying was rife across the contract.  ISS workers have told GMB they get called ‘stupid’ or are shouted at in front of others by their managers. Bereaved workers have been told they are only entitled to three days compassionate leave. Workers who have had serious illness have been told by managers to never ever be sick again. Workers who have been injured in the line of duty are treated as though they are an aggravation or an inconvenience to company bosses. Duty of care doesn’t exist as workers come into work with foot, leg, and back injuries. The ISS sick pay scheme means workers must earn the right to sick pay before they can get anything. Such is the heartless brutality that these workers face daily.

The constant threat of disciplinary action for trivia hangs over the heads of these workers. The allocation of overtime, desperately needed to top up low pay, was used as a weapon to silence the staff. The day-to-day petty unfairness’s, the abuse, the lack of recourse to justice led to a buildup of anger which simmered under the surface.

Despite the climate of fear these workers have managed to rise up together and take on ISS and they quickly forced the company to pass on pay rises owed from previous years. How have these workers gone from being ignored, forgotten, and exploited to rising up and asserting their rights in such a powerful way?

It all started at the Maudsley Hospital on the day a group of 4 women workers decided to stand up and become GMB representatives. GMB met the company leads in late 2022 and they told us ISS couldn’t afford our pay claim. All our members were asking for was parity across the contract and equal pay for equal work after years of pay and conditions being driven down. The door was firmly slammed in our faces and there was no further engagement from ISS management at that stage. It was time to ramp up our union organizing efforts and get serious.

 Together the GMB reps and I embarked on a campaign to build the union in ISS right across the Trust as we listened to the workers grievances. Channeling the anger into action took some time. After all It’s hard to convince the most fearful and exploited groups of workers to embark on high-risk collective trade union action. The workers were scared, they were fragmented and dispersed across four hospitals, and they didn’t yet realize their own potential power.

We held face to face union meetings, we held online meetings, we did walk throughs and we leafleted. We stuck together as a GMB team, and we persevered until the workers developed confidence and joined the union. Word started to spread that the union was active and before long other workers stepped up to be representatives in the other three hospitals too.

Momentum started to build and GMB went from having little to no presence in the workplace to having regular union meetings in all the 4 main hospitals.  Workers went from huddling and whispering on corridors to attending meetings right under the gaze of the managers who used to oppress them. 

Once we had the hearts and minds of the workers and they were joining the union we knew the battle to improve their pay and conditions was on. We have not only increased membership density, but GMB now had a strong team of 12 active representatives who all came to the union through our vibrant campaign for pay justice. 10 of these reps are ordinary working-class women who have quickly moved to the forefront of leading this large industrial dispute against their own employer. And these women are not short of the courage it takes to be in meetings with company bosses several times their rank and tell them that they are wrong and unfair.

GMB UNION went into a formal trade dispute with ISS over pay and conditions in April 2023 and in spite of language barriers, and increased hostility from management we won the ballot. The tireless work of our brave workplace representatives ensured that our members turned out to vote.

The GMB ISS strikers were due to take a further 8 days of strike action commencing July 27th but they have now had an inflation busting pay offer of 17% from management. They have also been offered backpay and a bonus payment for working through the pandemic. The strike leaders have voted unanimously to put this offer in a pay ballot to our members with a recommendation that they vote to accept the offer.

Our strike leaders are on course to decisively win this dispute because they never once faltered or threw in the towel. Our members have gained so much including a newfound sense of solidarity that will stand them in good stead in the years to come. They can see the benefits of sticking together and helping each other as young and old, black, and white, man and woman now stand together to face down oppression and injustice in their workplace. Witnessing the workers transformation from being scared, timid and downtrodden to being vocal, assertive, and standing tall has been an extraordinary thing to behold. Almost overnight the workers had found their voice, their confidence, and their belief in themselves as agents of their own destiny and their extraordinary courage would inspire anyone.

The GMB strike leaders are mothers, grandmothers and have multiple responsibilities. On top of their busy lives, they have committed themselves to taking on the rep role because they had no choice. What the women all have in common is that they have gone from being ordinary workers to confident and capable workplace leaders. They have learnt through struggle, and they have found ways around the obstacles and barriers to winning their dispute. They are doing it for themselves but also for their families. Without the hard work and effort of the GMB representatives it would have been impossible to build trade union power across SLaM. The reps have stood firm in the face of challenges from the employer because they know that unionization is the only way they can advance. They know that they can only take on the power of the Trust and ISS with their own collective power from below.

Our ISS striking women are showing every worker how real trade unionism is done. Their inspiring struggle has set an example for the entire labour and trade union movement to follow. It’s working-class women like this who have the most to lose from the attacks on pay, conditions and public services and who have the most to gain from getting organized in the unions and fighting back. Women who are prepared to to get properly organized in their workplaces are the ones who will genuinely shape working conditions for future generations and stop society from slipping into barbarism.

GMB representative -Jackie

“I am very proud to be part of the GMB team leading this dispute.”

GMB representative- Lume

“Being a GMB rep is more responsibility-there are more to sort things out- trying to follow what you say to us- I feel I know more- I try to keep staff together to fight for our rights- this is what I do as a GMB rep and it helps me to feel more proud of myself”

GMB representative -Catia

“So how I feel as a GMB rep in this dispute, it makes me very proud to represent our GMB members..it's has also lift my confidence to be more outspoken and tell ISS that we have spotted their game and that we are not going to stop until we win. I encourage people to join the GMB to fight for their rights because together we are stronger.”