TRADE UNIONS MARK WORKERS MEMORIAL DAY

RMT helpline 0800 376 3706 :: may 2011 :: RMTnews 8 S outheastern Trains cleaning contractors, Wettons Cleaning Services, has reversed its decision not to pay any enhancements in pay or granting lieu days for staff who worked the extra bank holiday for the royal wedding last month. As a result of Wettons decision not to honour the additional bank holiday to workers earning just £10,600, the union immediately demanded a meeting with the company and it agreed to recognise April 29 as an additional bank holiday for all staff. Wettons has now confirmed it will adhere to the terms and conditions of employment for all TUPE transfer staff (COMATEC, ISS and EX-BR) for the additional bank holiday. All other employees will receive an additional day’s annual leave and those employees that worked on the day will receive normal pay and a day in lieu. Profits have soared for the company more than 200 per cent over the last six years and the boss survives on £376,000 a year. The union will continue to fight for decent wages and conditions for the cleaners pursue a similar written agreement for next year’s Royal Jubilee. T rade unions marked Workers Memorial Day around the world last month to remember those that died at work and to demand a safer working environment. RMT called for the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) to be properly resourced and condemned planned cuts of around 35 per cent to its budget. HSE union rep Simon Hester warned that the cuts meant that inspections on major sites would only now take place after a death or serious injury had occurred. Mr Hester delivered the stark warning at a Workers' Memorial Day event in London just days after a fatality on the London Gateway building site in Essex. The protest outside the Department of Work and Pensions (DWP) in Westminster took an unexpected turn when minister Chris Grayling emerged from the building to be confronted by angry union members led by Tony O’Brien from the Construction Safety Campaign. Mr Grayling, the minister responsible for the savage HSE cuts, was surrounded by protesters and while refusing to discuss his plans resorted to the infamous ministerial brush-off “my door is always open” - clearly not as the picture (above) shows. The London WMD rally, one of a growing number across the country and globally, was addressed by RMT president Alex Gordon who listed a catalogue of fatalities, blasting out the message that the entire movement needed to unite in the fight against the co- ordinated attack on health and safety at work. Figures from the HSE reveal that last year 152 workers were killed at work and thousands of people died of mesthelioma and occupational cancers and lung diseases. The Trade Union Co- Ordinating Group put down early day motion 1761 in Parliament as part of the growing support amongst MPs at Westminster for full recognition of Workers Memorial Day and the concern that exists at the savage cuts to the HSE. In Australia, International Transport Workers Federation (ITF) president Paddy Crumlin said that more men and women continue to be killed at work than in wars. “It remains one of the greatest global tragedies that many of these deaths are preventable. “International Workers’ Memorial Day commemorates those workers who tragically never came home. “Today we remember them as we continue the fight to raise safety standards for all workers,” he said. TRADE UNIONS MARK WORKERS MEMORIAL DAY RMT WINS ROYAL WEDDING U-TURN