WINNING FOR CARLISLE CLEANERS

RMT helpline 0800 376 3706 :: september 2011 :: RMTnews T he union has rejected Carlisle's derisory pay offer for 2011 last month and is calling on all its members on the West Coast Contract to vote YES in the upcoming ballot for strike action. The management's offer, which they have now imposed into the pay packets from Monday August 29, amounts to a one per cent pay increase for all hourly paid staff. For these already disgracefully low paid workers this means a six pence per hour increase on the previous hourly rate of £6.46p per hour. This is to be followed by another one per cent or six pence per hour increase from April 1 2012 - but only if Carlisle retain the contract. With inflation running at over five per cent this means a brutal four per cent cut in real earnings each year for two years. Carlisle made a gross profit of £13.2 million in 2010. By imposing the "increase" from September 1 the company has also stolen three months of back pay as the agreed anniversary date was June 1. The Liverpool 5 branch resolution to the union's executive, which called for rejection of the offer, also noted that there had been no offer of additional payments for CET, Train Roof Cleaning or New Technology; that there was no resolution to outstanding problems of pensionable pay for TUPE protected staff; and no offer whatsoever for pension provision for non - TUPE staff. The claim is for a minimum hourly rate of £7.85p per hour, increasing to an eventual £10 per hour. The Carlisle cleaners will need the active support of every other RMT member, branch and Regional Council on the West Coast line of route. They will also need the support of the passengers and their current political representatives in the councils and parliamentary constituencies. The union will be doing all of these things, including setting up a tour of member's meetings up and down the West Coast, but you the members, whether you work for Carlisle, or for Alstom or for Virgin must not let a day go by without asking every Carlisle employee whether they're a member of this union and signing them up if they're not. It is no exaggeration to say that Carlisle have gone to war on the RMT. In doing all they have on the pay claim and giving notice on the recognition agreement for this contract, they have made it clear that that they don't want any union interfering with their drive for profits. It's only by fighting back and winning the desperately needed improvements in pay and conditions, that members will both improve the quality of their lives and defend recognition of their union. 14 WINNING FOR CARLISLE CLEANERS Assistant general secretary Pat Sikorski outlines the campaign for better pay and conditions for Carlisle cleaners