‘We are treated the lowest of the low’: Security guards at Department for Education to strike

Security guards who work at a Government department building will walk out on strike on Saturday in a dispute over pay and conditions.

The guards, who work at the Department for Education’s (DfE) Sanctuary Buildings in Great Smith Street, Westminster, have demanded a minimum pay of £15 per hour, a sick pay scheme in line with directly employed staff at the DfE and improved annual leave entitlements.

The DfE outsources its security to a private contractor, G4S. The contracts are owned by the Government Property Agency (GPA).

Dele Bodumde, a security officer of 12 years at DfE, said: “The guards are the lowest paid in Sanctuary buildings and we don’t want to stomach it anymore. 

“I have been fighting for years for better pay and treatment.”

The workers are represented by United Voices of the World (UVW), a trade union for low-paid migrant workers.

Earlier this year, cleaners and caterers at the DfE won a pay rise and full sick pay following a lengthy dispute led by UVW which lasted more than a year.

Mr Bodumde said: “We all saw how the cleaners and caterers were being treated and we saw how UVW stood up for them and they were able to win  their requests. It was their fight that inspired me to join UVW.”

When balloted for industrial action, the guards’ returned a unanimous 100 per cent yes to strike in a ballot which saw 100 per cent turnout. 

Despite representing all the security guards at Sanctuary Buildings, G4S refuses to engage with UVW citing its lack of official recognition, the union claims.

Mr Bodumde said: “We do not accept that they want to negotiate with a union that doesn’t represent us.  We are ready to strike.”

Adetola Oshin, a security guard of 18 years at the DfE and UVW member, said striking is the workers only option.

Mr Oshin said: “We are treated like the lowest of the low.

“When we stand at the front door all day, we face the public, and they sometimes abuse and threaten us. We are the ones facing the atrocities that come at us from outside.”

For the past two years, Mr Oshin said the guards have only been given a single uniform and pair of shoes, which he says do not fit properly.

He said: “We don’t have a restroom, so when we are on a break we just hang around, and walk around.

“There is no other building near us where the guards earn as little as we do. Yet we are trained and qualified professionals, we are all educated, we have masters degrees and there is simply no career progression.”

The workers will join security guards at the Science Museum, Natural History Museum, and V&A Museum as well as Harrods workers who will all walk out on Saturday in disputes over pay and working conditions.

UVW have organised picket lines outside Harrods and the two South Kensington museums.

Petros Elia, general secretary for UVW, said: “This is UVW’s fourth security guard dispute this year.

“They are dedicated highly trained, safety critical professionals who are not receiving the fair pay and respect they deserve. 

“We urge G4S to read the room. Get round the table and give the guards what they need and deserve.”

A government spokesman said the guards are employed by an external contractor and “are not directly employed by the government”.

He said: “The Government Property Agency ensures contractors abide by current employment legislation.”

GS4 declined to comment.

Pictured top: Cleaners, caterers and UVW members outside the Department for Education in June (Picture: UVW)