SAGE Los Angeles, London, New Delhi, Singapore, Washington DC Julie Hearn is a lecturer in the Department of Politics and International Relations at Lancaster University. She has written on universities and the UK immigration regime for the national magazine of the University and College Union (UCU). Monica Bergos is a journalist in Barcelona who previously worked for the Latin American community media in London, including Noticias. Race & Class Copyright © 2011 Institute of Race Relations, Vol. 53(1): 65–82 10.1177/0306396811406782 http://rac.sagepub.com Latin American cleaners fight for survival: lessons for migrant activism JULIE HEARN and MONICA BERGOS Abstract: This article documents the significant successes and major setbacks of a campaign led by Latin American cleaners for union recognition and better pay and conditions at the University of London. It shows how they overcame fear, resignation, intimidation, racism, poverty and cultural and linguistic alienation to find their political agency. However, their collective empowerment was met by dismissals and deportations. The article argues that there are a number of important lessons for the trade union movement to learn; namely, the need to have specific legal and campaigning strategies in place to defend its migrant activists as well as calling for the regularisation of ‘irregular’ workers. In sum, the struggle for immigrant rights is at the cutting edge of the global working-class fightback. 1 Keywords: cleaning workers, industrial disputes, LAWAS, London Living Wage, migrant workers, regularisation, TELCO, trade unions, Unison, University of London There is a growing literature documenting the extent to which migrant work- ers 2 are among the most low-paid and vulnerable members of the UK labour force today. 3 In their groundbreaking research on what they call ‘London’s migrant division of labour’, Jane Wills and her fellow authors show how the