2 July 2020
RMT Press Office
RMT today welcomed the news that Transport for Wales will convene a working group with the union to discuss bringing all cleaning on the Wales and Borders franchise in-house and has suspended a planned campaign of industrial action to allow for further talks.
The move follows an intensive union campaign to get the work brought in house from 2017 onwards and comes on the eve of planned strike action by the outsourced cleaners, employed by Axis, which was aimed at ending the two-tier workforce in cleaning on the franchise.
The union has also today suspended strike action due to start this evening to allow for more talks to end the dispute with Axis and the first meeting of the in-sourcing working group will take place later this month.
RMT Senior Assistant General Secretary Mick Lynch said;
“This news is a tribute to our members’ determination to fight against the injustice of a two-tier workforce and is the culmination of a long and hard fought union campaign.
“We welcome this decision by Transport for Wales, which also recognizes the Covid-19 crisis exposes the essential nature of cleaning as an integral part of our industry, and I believe this establishes a template that should be followed elsewhere, not least by Mayor Sadiq Khan in London who has the opportunity to bring 2,000 cleaners in house when the current outsourcing contract ends in 2022.”
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