The UCL Provost, Prof. Malcolm Grant, was widely criticised in the national press this week when it emerged that many of the University's clean- ers are contractually obliged to star in upcoming film The Hobbit. It would seem that for many members of the sup- port staff, the recent wage in- crease has come at a high price.
This scandal follows weeks of praise for the Grant after he ceded to student pressure and agreed to pay cleaners the ‘Lon- don Living Wage’ of £7.85 per hour. Allegations of forced la- bour emerged, however, when full-time hygiene officer Aure- liano Buendia revealed a film- participation caveat to a re- porter from The Independent. It would appear that the new contracts, signed by many cleaners at the beginning of the autumn term, include a clause stating that the signee is bound to a six month trip to a secret location in New Zealand for work as a ‘supernumerary height-deficient artiste’.
The document goes on to state that the employer has the right to reduce the pay of any worker unable to say ‘Bil- bo’s lost his magic turnip’ in a thick West Country accent. Grant stepped in to resur- rect the wayward project after executive producer Peter Jack- son threatened to move film- ing away from his native New Zealand. Many big names, including director Guillermo Del Toro and mincing wizard Sir Ian McKellen, have already walked away from the film amid fears from actors un- ions about working conditions and pay. It would seem Grant is unmoved by such warn- ings about employee rights.
And things only get worse for the unwilling actors. Due to budgetary shortcuts, they will be obliged to provide their own shelter in the wilds of the Kiwi countryside, ing their spare time to manu- while us- facture by-hand several thou- sand items of Elvin weaponry.
Grant refused to com- ment directly to The Cheese Grater, but his office released a defiant statement on Mon- day. “These scrubbers don’t know they’re born,” it claims. ‘Why can’t they just be grate- ful for the bloody holiday?’
Michael Chessum, UCLU Education and Campaigns of- was outraged by the Provost’s flouting of work- ers’ rights. He remarked, ‘I have two words for Malcolm Grant: Free Palestine.’