‘OBSCENE’ CULL OF CLEANERS’ JOBS

www.rmt.org.uk :: january 2007 :: RMTnews 7 R MT handed in a letter to London mayor Ken Livingstone to halt the ‘obscene, unnecessary and potentially dangerous’ cull of more than 200 ISS cleaning jobs ordered by fat-cat London Underground contractor Tubelines. RMT called the emergency lobby of the Greater London Authority at City Hall after bosses at cleaning contractor ISS confirmed that 204 cleaners – more than a quarter of its Tubelines workforce – are to be sacked by the end of March. RMT general secretary Bob Crow said that the union is “stunned and absolutely furious” at the scale of job losses that ISS casually let slip just before Christmas. “It was bad enough when we were led to believe that up to 100 jobs were under threat, but the true scale of the damage Tubelines is doing to our members and their families and to London Underground is obscene, unecessary and potentially dangerous,” he said. Tubelines made nearly £160 million in profits in just three years, but that is clearly not enough because now they want to squeeze even more profit out of the people who already do the dirtiest jobs for the lowest pay. The union is asking the Mayor and London Underground for urgent discussions to see what can be done to force Tubelines to reverse this decision. RMT has argued that there is no way that levels of station and train cleanliness can be maintained on the Jubilee, Northern and Piccadilly lines with a loss of 27 per cent of the cleaning workforce. There are also serious safety and security issues involved in cutting cleaning staff, not least at a time when tons of newsprint are being dumped in stations and on trains every day. Bob Crow said that RMT would use every means available to stop these job cuts, but it is time for the Mayor, TfL and London Underground to tell Tubelines that it cannot impose these massive cuts. A groundbreaking meeting of RMT Bus and Rail representatives working for Go Ahead took place at Unity House earlier this month. RMT represents Go Ahead workers on Southern Trains, South East Trains, Wilts & Dorset Bus, Solent Blue Bus, Southern Vectis Bus and Damory Coaches. The meeting was called as result of resolution passed at the 2006 Busworkers’ Conference. RMT representatives updated the union’s national officers Mick Cash and Pat Sikorski on issues affecting Go Ahead workers. Representatives welcomed the opportunity to share experiences with fellow workers from different Go Ahead companies. Further meetings are planned and approaches are being made to Go Ahead management for them to meet with the union and our representatives at a national level. Go Ahead bus and rail workers unite RMT TELLS MAYOR TO ACT AGAINST ‘OBSCENE’ CULL OF CLEANERS’ JOBS