Nearly 300 cleaners, porters and security officers will withhold their labour in a dispute over zero-hours contracts.

Cleaners, porters and security officers at a leading British university are to strike in a dispute over zero-hours contracts and other issues.

Members of the Independent Workers Union of Great Britain (IWGB) at University College London (UCL) will walk out on November 19.

The union said it will be the biggest strike of outsourced workers in United Kingdom higher education history.

The IWGB balloted almost 300 workers over their terms and conditions, as part of the union’s campaign to end outsourcing and zero-hours contracts at UCL.

Virtually all the cleaners, porters and security officers who voted in a ballot backed strike action.

UCL cleaner Maritza Castillo Calle said: “Outsourcing forces us to work sick and injured, to work all our lives and still retire in poverty.”