From Invisibility and Marginalisation to Empowerment and Organisation: Rehearsing Union Freedom
A workshop led by:
Independent Workers of Great Britain (IWGB)
21/10/2023
13:00 – 15:00
HJL Dream Space
Resource for London
352 Holloway Road
London
N7 6PA
Description
In this workshop led by Independent Workers of Great Britain (IWGB), the Cleaners and Facilities branch leaders of the union will share their journey, strategy and tactics on how they moved towards organising from being totally invisible and scared to being active, empowered, fighting for change, and winning!
In the UK’s hostile environment towards migrants and trade unions, how do we rehearse dignity and freedom from exploitation and isolation? How do we rehearse reclamation of our bodies and time in a high pressure and low-paid extractive industry, which makes the city run, but leaves us exhausted and dismissed?
If you require additional access measures to enable your participation, including BSL interpretation please email info@healingjusticeldn.org. Inline with our commitment to disability justice, we will try to accommodate as much as possible.
Biographies
The Independent Workers of Great Britain (IWGB) represents cleaners, hospitality workers and domestic workers in London. Taking a stand against outsourcing, low pay and harassment, they have won demands at places like the Royal College of Art and the elite private members’ club 5 Hertford Street and supported hundreds of people facing unjust working conditions. IWGB was founded in 2012 by Latin American cleaners in London. Ten years later it has grown to 6,500 members and continues to be led by lived experience migrant and casualised workers, organising across 11 branches representing couriers, private hire drivers, university workers, foster carers, nannies and charity sector workers. A leading and core foundational branch of the union is the Cleaners and Facilities branch.
