STRIKING workers at University College London (UCL) accused their privateer bosses today of attempting to break their action by hiring agency workers to take over their jobs.

The 200 workers also accused the employer of reneging on an agreement to treat them equally with directly employed university staff.

Security staff at UCL walked out on Monday for three days in support of a claim for a £15 an hour wage.

They are employed by contractor Bidvest Noonan, an outsourcing corporation employing 27,000 workers.

The workers are members of the Independent Workers of Great Britain union (IWGB).

The union accused Bidvest Noonan of attempting to undermine the strike before it began by banning overtime work for employees and drafting in security guards from another agency.

Many of the workers, who are from black and ethnic minority backgrounds, rely on overtime for up to one-third of their wages, the union said.

The union said students’ safety was being jeopardised by the employers’ use of “cowboy” security agencies.

IWGB secretary Henry Chango-Lopez said: “Draconian strike-breaking measures like these often backfire for institutions like UCL, which claim publicly to respect workers’ rights.

“If they continue, it will force workers to escalate their public campaign because they simply cannot afford to shoulder the cost of UCL’s hypocrisy. 

"They will not be denied the dignity, equality and basic rights they have fought for, been promised and more than earned.”

The workers are also campaigning for their jobs to be taken back into direct employment by UCL. 

IWGB said that since the jobs were outsourced 20 years ago the value of wages has halved.

Bidvest Noonan was invited to comment.