Fed up with lousy pay and no sign of improvement, Kings College London and SOAS professional workers took to the picket lines, reports Pete Webster

Library assistants, administrators, caterers, porters, IT workers and more at SOAS and Kings College London walked out on Tuesday over a derisory below-inflation pay offer of 1.4%. This is on the back of years of wage deals that have fallen behind rising bills, and during a cost-of-living crisis. Both groups are organised by Unison who say that staff salaries have dropped by 20% in real terms over the past decade and no pay uplift has matched inflation since the financial crash in 2008.

The strike received overwhelming support in the ballot and the pickets have been well-attended and upbeat. Both pickets converged at KCL on Wednesday lunchtime for an enthusiastic rally and speakers made it clear that they would be fight on as the dispute wasn’t just about the insulting pay offer but reviewing the grade boundaries, London weighting and unsocial hours allowances.

KCL Unison branch secretary, Ben, said ‘This dispute is over a real-terms pay-cut that was imposed on universities’ workers last August. This is a wealthy university and that should be shared with the workers. We run this university, we make it what it is and we’re the ones facing cuts. That is unacceptable. And we will strike for as long as we need to challenge that.’

‘Our members come from all over the university all standing in solidarity for fair pay. I would like to thank the KCL UCU branch whose support has been phenomenal.’

If there is no movement from management then Ben said ‘Unison members will return to the picket on 25 and 26 March and we will continue until we win the dispute.’

Messages of support and solidarity to: KCL and SOAS