UNIVERSITY cleaners have reignited a campaign to bring their jobs back “in house”.

The workers rallied with a protest outside the City St George’s campus in Northampton Square, Clerkenwell, on Tuesday.

Protesters held signs in English and Spanish, with messages such as “we are not the dirt we clean”, “you sleep, we work we need night time pay” and “we clean your classrooms, offices and toilets, but we can barely feed our families”.

Cleaner Taysiu Paz Perez-Aciego, 48, said: “We don’t want our labour to fall into private hands. We want to be part of City University.”

She told the Tribune that she had been pressured into coming back to work after taking time off and was paid “poor wages”.

Union reps say outsourced staff lack job security, appropriate sickness procedures and equitable overtime rates. In 2022 Unison campaigned for the cleaners to be brought in house, and although this did not happen, workers contracts were brought in line with City University employees’ 42 days holiday and sick pay.

Cleaning staff at SOAS and Birkbeck universities won their campaigns to be brought “in house” in 2020 and 2018, respectively. Cleaners at City are currently hired by Julius Rutherfoord & Co, meaning that they are not directly employed by the university. The contract is due to end in August 2025.

Damien Frettsome, City St George’s University UNISON branch secretary, said: “The way that they are treated by the cleaning company is not the same way that they would be treated by the university.

“They’re not paid the overtime rate that staff that work at the university are, they have a different sickness procedure and they are paid a lot less than what you’d be paid if you work for the university.

“That’s why we are now pushing the university: you’ve improved the terms and conditions, now we want you to finish the job and bring these staff in house.”

Henry Chango Lopez, general secretary of the Independent Workers Union of Great Britain (IWGB), added: “By ending outsourcing, hopefully workers will have less problems, more job security and be treated with dignity and respect in the workplace.”

A spokesperson for City St George’s said: “The university’s position remains that it is appropriate to retain its cleaning services contract as an outsourced provision.

“The terms and conditions that are provided for the outsourced cleaning staff include up to six months’ full sick pay, maternity and paternity leave, improved pension provisions, and 42 days holiday, including Christmas closure and bank holidays.”

Chris Jarvis, managing director of Julius Rutherfoord & Co, said: “We are very proud of our long-term partnership with the university which has enabled us to employ our staff on the same terms and conditions as if they were directly employed by the university.”