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Publication Date: June 26 2008
Attempts to kick-start talks at Acas last night came to nothing as the employers made no effort to negotiate.
The number of MPs signing a Commons motion supporting the cleaners, condemning the employers and urging the mayor to ensure that contract cleaners are paid the London living wage had risen to 24 this morning (text and list below).
After voting to strike by a landslide 125-one margin, RMT cleaners working for ISS, ITS, ICS and GBM will not book on for shifts that commence during the 24 hours between 18:50 tomorrow (June 26) and 18:49 on Friday June 27.
"Our members have been subjected to massive intimidation but tonight they will make history by striking for the first time ever for the living wage their fatcat employers have so far denied them," RMT general secretary Bob Crow said today.
"These bosses are making millions on the backs of workers who are paid at rates it is simply impossible to live on, and that is indefensible.
"Our AGM in Nottingham has pledged complete support for the Tube cleaners' campaign for a living wage, and the employers should now get around the table with us to negotiate a living wage," Bob Crow said.
ends
Notes to editors: A second, 48-hour, strike is also scheduled for all shifts commencing between 18:50 on Tuesday July 1 and 18:49 on Thursday July 3.
The cleaners' demands also include 28 days' holiday, sick pay, decent pensions and travel facilities, and an end to the barbaric practice of 'third-party sackings' in which cleaners can be dismissed, with no disciplinary hearing or right of appeal, at the behest parties other than the employer - a device used to get rid of union activists.
Early Day Motion 1872
CONDITIONS FOR CLEANERS EMPLOYED ON LONDON UNDERGROUND
Tabled by John McDonnell and signed by June 26 by Harry Cohen, Andrew Dismore, Neil Gerrard, Diane Abbot, Jeremy Corbyn, Mark Durkan, Andrew George, Linda Riordan, Lindsay Hoyle, Lynne Jones, Chris McCafferty, Alasdair McDonnell, Gregory Campbell, Ronnie Campbell, Ann Cryer, Janet Dean, Ian Gibson, John Battle, Peter Bottomley, Robert Wareing and Phil Willis
That this House fully supports the 700 cleaners on London Underground who are members of the RMT union, who have voted by a margin of 125-to-one to take strike action for the London living wage and improved working conditions, including decent sick pay, pensions, holiday entitlement and travel facilities; notes that the action also seeks to end the disgraceful practice of third-party sackings in which cleaners can be dismissed, with no disciplinary hearing or right of appeal, at the behest of parties other than the employer; is appalled that these vulnerable workers who do such an essential job for London must get by on rates of pay of little more than £5.50 an hour; believes that such exploitation brings shame on London as it prepares for the 2012 Olympics; further notes that the cleaners are employed by contractors ISS, ITS, ICS and GBM who are subcontracted to Metronet and Tube Lines to undertake cleaning for London Underground; therefore believes that Transport for London (TfL) has a clear responsibility to assist in resolving this dispute; calls on the Mayor of London to honour the pledge of the previous Mayor that cleaners on Metronet contracts would receive the London living wage as soon as they passed under TfL control, and to bring pressure on Tube Lines also to pay the living wage; condemns the intimidation of cleaners by employers in this dispute; and urges cleaning bosses instead to direct their energies to reaching a just, negotiated statement.
