Pay and jobs campaigners claim King’s victory

A second London university is moving to bring its cleaning and security services back in-house, as the campaign against campus outsourcing gathers momentum.

Staff delivering the two services will become employees of King’s College London when the current outsourced contracts end in 2019. “Bringing the people who deliver these vital services onto our payroll and properly into the King’s community is the right thing to do,” the university said in a statement on 27 September. “Our decision to discontinue outsourcing these services is fully aligned with that ambition and our mission to make the world a better place.”

Earlier this month, Goldsmiths University of London made a similar decision. Its governing council approved plans to bring up to 100 cleaning staff in-house on 20 September and “to harmonise the terms and conditions of cleaners with other Goldsmiths staff”. Public campaigns backing support staff at both institutions have hailed their victories, as have similar movements at other institutions.