“Higher Education: UNISON Wins SOAS Commitment to End Outsourcing,” 7 Aug 2017

UNISON [the trade union representing support staff] has won a major victory at London’s School of Oriental and African Studies, with an agreement to end the outsourcing of core support services by September 2018 and bring more than 120 staff back in house. The announcement by the university follows and expands on an agreement reached with UNISON last year after talks at Acas, where the employer had agreed to bring all cleaning services back in house by September 2018. But more talks between the university and UNISON earlier this year have seen the employer widen the plan to include all core services. This covers staff employed in a range of roles, including cleaning, catering, conferences and events, security, the post room and the help desk and reception teams. It is the latest in a long line of UNISON successes at SOAS over the course of an 11-year campaign...