TUBE CLEANERS DEMAND LIVING WAGE

RMTnews :: january 2006 :: www.rmt.org.uk 16 Cleaners working for poverty wages on London Underground are demanding fair pay and dignity at work. RMT has supported their claim by launching a cleaners’ charter and by calling on Mayor Ken Livingstone and Transport for London to support the demand that no Tube employer should pay less. “Mayor Ken Livingstone quite rightly says that no-one can survive in London on wages less than £6.70 an hour, but there are more than 2,000 cleaners working on London Underground getting far less than that,” RMT general secretary Bob Crow said. Bob handed in a letter to TfL Commissioner Bob Kiley urging him to join the union in winning dignity and respect at work for London Underground cleaners. Research indicates that 90 per cent of cleaners working on London Underground are paid less than £5.51 an hour, and that nearly 40 per cent get no more than the rock-bottom minimum wage of £5.05, while their employers are raking in millions. Contractors like ISS, Blue Diamond and GBM are making fat profits on Tube contracts and they are paying poverty wages to staff who work long, hard hours in difficult conditions. The Tube infrastructure companies are making £2 million a week out of their PPP contracts, yet they are happy to sub-contract cleaning work to companies who have raised the art of exploitation to new levels. Eight out of ten Tube cleaners get no annual pay rise, half have never had a pay rise, more than 70 per cent are not in a pension scheme, and 60 per cent get no company sick-pay. RMT campaign co-ordinator Glenroy Watson said that hundreds of cleaners had joined the union and warned that if these modest demands were not met then it could lead to industrial action. Therefore, the union is demanding a £6.70 minimum hourly rate now, an annual pay rise, decent pensions, free Tube travel, proper overtime pay, fair sick pay and at least 20 days’ holiday. TUBE CLEANERS DEM RMT launches Cleaners’ Charter demanding a minimum pay rate of £6.70 an hour for cleaners working on London Underground contracts THE RMT CLEANERS’ CHARTER Cleaners on the Underground deserve: • A minimum rate of £6.70 per hour, increasing to an eventual £10 per hour • An annual increase in pay • A simple career path • A decent pension • Free travel on the Tube • An additional payment for late night or weekend work • Dignity and respect at work • Clean mess rooms • Regular provision of uniform • 20 days basic annual leave plus 8 bank holidays • A fair sick pay scheme