CLEAN UP YOUR ACT!

RMTnews :: july/august 2005 14 A meeting convened by RMT’s Finsbury Park branch heard some shocking experiences from London Underground cleaning staff, including one member who was ordered not to speak at work. “Cleaners are an important part of the London Underground workforce and here we are in the 21st century while they are suffering 19th century working conditions,” said RMT regional organiser Bobby Law. “While London mayor Ken Livingstone has talked about a living wage in London of £6.70 per hour, cleaning staff earn just £4.85 per hour and lower. “On top of that staff often have to provide their own equipment, face intimidation and receive no pension rights,” he said. The union has established negotiation machinery with the employers recently and aims to ensure that every cleaner is represented and reps are put in place in order to deal with these problems. PRIVATISATION Current problems stem from the privatisation of London Underground cleaning contracts in the mid 1990s, which are now run by three main cleaning companies ISS, GBM and Blue Diamond. Previously, cleaning staff were directly employed, progressing through the industry to become station staff etc, and received full employment and pension rights. However, privatisation has led to tenders being given to the lowest bidder and a spiral of cuts in wages and conditions in order to increase profits for the cleaning companies. A multi-tiered workforce has developed with cleaning grades being denied the terms, conditions and benefits which are enjoyed by their colleagues directly employed by London Underground. This experience is now being repeated in the engineering and maintenance grades with Metronet and Tube Lines following the introduction of PPP and the privatisation of Tube infrastructure. Privatisation of Tube cleaning services has weakened trade union organisation in this grade. However, the nature of the PPP contracts makes ‘ambience’ one of the three key benchmarks (the other two are capability and availability) which determine whether monthly payments to the Infracos should go up or down. The inclusion of ‘ambience’ as a key benchmark potentially puts cleaners in a industrially powerful position. A LIVING WAGE? Earlier this year, Transport for London, the London Mayor and the London Development Agency published a report: “A Fairer London The Living Wage in London”. This argued that the high cost of housing in London required a higher minimum wage in London than in other parts of the country. The report calculated that for workers to avoid falling back into poverty they need to be paid a living wage of £6.70 per hour. Fair employment strategies have also been developed by the Greater London Authority to stop poor employment practices encouraged by the private tendering process. These contracts ensure that staff enjoy the same terms and conditions as if they were directly employed by the GLA. As well as benefiting the work-force, GLA corporate services director Manny Lewis said that such contracts led to reduced staff turnover, lower sickness levels and increased staff morale, thus improving the GLA’s customer services. As Transport for London are ultimately responsible for the operation of the London Underground network, the union is arguing that the contracts awarded by the Infracos to the cleaning contractors should have similar commitments written into them. RMT will be campaigning for the contracts to ensure decent pension provision, annual leave entitlement, parental leave and paid sick pay for all staff. ORGANISING CLEANERS The Living Wage Project, run by London Citizens, has joined forces with RMT to recruit Tube cleaners to the union in order to fight for better wages. The group was involved in a successful two-year campaign to raise the wages and benefits of cleaning staff at the HSBC bank's Canary Wharf tower. Night staff now get £7.10 per hour, day staff will get up to £6.40 per hour, with eight extra paid holidays, 10 days of paid sick leave and a pension. This package should set the standard and RMT are pleased to have London Citizens on board. CLEAN UP YOUR ACT! RMT launches campaign to highlight the plight of London Underground cleaning staff who suffer low pay, receive no pension entitlements, no travel provisions or overtime payments, face intimidation and are generally treated as second class citizens MEETING: London Underground cleaners meet RMT reps to discuss problems LONDON CITIZENS: London regional organiser Bobby Law (far right) meets London Citizens volunteers and RMT cleaner co-ordinator Glenroy Watson