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Publication Date: July 2 2008
A 48-HOUR strike by some 700 RMT members working for four cleaning subcontractors on London Underground is rock-solid, with more cleaners joining the union on the picket lines, the Tube’s biggest union says today.
Cleaners working for ISS, ITS, ICS and GBM began their second strike at 18:50 yesterday (Tuesday) evening and will not book on for shifts that begin before 18:59 tomorrow (Thursday).
MPs’ support for the cleaners continues to grow, with 37 signatures by today on a commons condemning the employers for paying little more than £5.50 an hour and urging the mayor to ensure that contract cleaners are paid the London living wage (text and link below).
“Our members overcame massive intimidation by these contract employers to deliver a massive vote for strike action, and now they have delivered a second rock-solid strike,” RMT general secretary Bob Crow said today.
“More cleaners are joining the union on the picket lines so that they can join the strike, and there have been heartwarming displays of sympathy from Londoners who are disgusted at the poverty wages paid to the people who keep their Tube network fit for use.
“Our deepest thanks go out to the members of the public and MPs who have already lent their support, and we would urge people to tell ISS, ITS, ICS and GBM that they have a moral duty to pay a living wage, and to pay it now.
“These are all profitable companies that have feathered their shareholders’ nests on the backs of our members’ work, and rather than docking pay from cleaners who dare to talk to union reps they should be around the table discussing how to implement a living wage.
“The mayor is on record supporting the London living wage, and he should now prove it by bringing it about.
Tubelines has happily been raking profits at £1 million a week, and it is time for them to recognise their moral obligation and play their part in ending the shameful exploitation of the cleaners on their contracts.
“Our members do not want jam tomorrow, they want a living wage today,” Bob Crow said.
ends
Notes to editors: 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.
London Living Wage
From last week's Mayor's Question Time, Question No: 1205 / 2008
John Biggs: Will you retain the commission and will you support the living wage, including the annual, independent, assessment of its appropriate value? If so, will you ensure all GLA staff are covered by it and will you press for its wider adoption in London?
Mayor: Yes. I will shortly be announcing the 2008 living wage rate. All direct employees of the GLA Group are paid at least the living wage and as contracts are renewed I will seek to ensure that our temporary and contracted staff are as well. All employers in London should be encouraged to pay at least the Living Wage and I will be encouraging them to do so.
Early Day Motion 1872 Tabled by John McDonnell and signed by 37 MPs so far
CONDITIONS FOR CLEANERS EMPLOYED ON LONDON UNDERGROUND
http://edmi.parliament.uk/EDMi/EDMDetails.aspx?EDMID=36190&SESSION=891
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.
