Petros Elia

Who Petros Elia is

Petros Elia is General Secretary and co-founder of United Voices of the World (UVW), an independent grassroots trade union he helped establish in 2013 with a small group of Latin American cleaners. UVW represents low-paid, precarious and migrant workers — including cleaners, carers, couriers and porters — and has grown to over 4,000 members across more than 100 countries. Elia has led campaigns to end outsourcing of ancillary workers in the NHS, most notably winning in-housing of staff at Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust (St Mary's Hospital) in 2020 and at Great Ormond Street Hospital in 2021. He has also spoken publicly on care home workers' pay and conditions, including organising threatened strike action at a North London nursing home in 2022 over poverty wages and lack of NHS-equivalent sick pay. UVW is described as the first union in the UK to end outsourcing in both higher education and the NHS.

References for this biography

1. 1.Candidate statement: Petros Elia – UVW — Establishes Elia as co-founder of UVW (2013), his role as General Secretary, and his organising record including 45 campaigns, 14 strikes, and 139 strike days
2. 2.Your Representatives, 2023 – UVW — Confirms Petros Elia as re-elected General Secretary of UVW as of 2023
3. 3.Major NHS Trust forced to terminate use of private contractors – UVW — Documents Elia's role in the 2020 St Mary's Hospital outsourcing victory at Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust
4. 4.Cleaners' union UVW forces Great Ormond Street Children's Hospital to end outsourcing – UVW — Documents Elia's role in the 2020–2021 GOSH outsourcing campaign and the £10 million OCS contract ending
5. 5.'We are going to fight again, for what is right.' Care home workers set to strike – UVW — Establishes Elia's direct engagement on social care workforce pay, sick pay and conditions disputes
6. 6.Over 500 St Helier and Epsom Hospital staff win £10 million NHS contract deal – UVW — Most recent (November 2025) evidence of Elia as active General Secretary quoted on NHS health worker disputes; also provides organisational press contact email
7. 7.Get in touch – UVW — Confirms UVW's official head-office address: 144 Cambridge Heath Road, London E1 5QJ
8. 8.Petros Elia (@elia_petros) / X — Confirms X account @elia_petros is self-identified as 'Co-founder and general secretary @UVWUnion'

Notable achievements

• Led UVW campaign that forced Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust to in-house over 1,000 outsourced cleaners, caterers and porters at St Mary's Hospital in January 2020, ending more than three decades of outsourcing. Source ↗
• Led UVW campaign that forced Great Ormond Street Hospital to end outsourcing and bring hundreds of cleaners into direct NHS employment in 2021, ending a £10 million-a-year contract with OCS. Source ↗
• Led UVW campaign resulting in a £10 million NHS contract deal for over 500 St Helier and Epsom Hospital staff in November 2025. Source ↗
• Co-founded UVW in 2013 and built it from 4 members to over 4,000 members with more than 20 staff. Source ↗

Where Petros Elia has been quoted

1. NHS hospital group’s facilities staff vote to strike over £30m pay discrimination claimtheguardian.com · 27 Aug 2026

Related media coverage

Recent UK press coverage of their topics — not necessarily citing them directly.

• Leaders in Care Awards 2026 | Lifetime Achievement: Care Homes winner revealedHome Care Insight
• GP architect of neighbourhood health reforms to leave NHS EnglandPulse Today
• An important step forward in ending corridor care - Colin Poolman | Blog | RCN ScotlandRoyal College of Nursing

Contact & links

• Staff pagehttps://www.uvwunion.org.uk/en/your-representatives-2023/
• Xhttps://x.com/elia_petros
• Press office emailcomms@uvwunion.org.ukpublished here ↗
• Websitehttps://www.uvwunion.org.ukpublished here ↗

Organisational contact points only, each taken from a page the organisation publishes itself. No personal or direct contact details are held or shown.