DEFENDING CATERING GRADES

RMT helpline 0800 376 3706 :: april 2012 :: RMTnews 14 Set against continued attacks on the working conditions of catering grade members and employers attempts to replace the on-board teams with agency staff, RMT’s Hotel, Catering and Ancillary grades held a highly productive conference this year in Southport. With some 30 delegates in attendance the conference proved the perfect platform for members to debate the issues pertinent to their grade and the challenges faced in the light of the ConDem government’s attempts to force through the deeply unpopular changes proposed in the McNulty report. Assistant general secretary Pat Sikorski spoke about some of the deals the union had been able to negotiate despite the attacks on the industry and claims by McNulty that above- inflation pay deals must end. Deals currently on the table that offered members increased pay and lower working hours demonstrated that breakthroughs could still be achieved and that the union could deliver what Pat called “McNulty-busting deals”. Pat also spoke about the campaign that the organising unit has been successfully running to recruit Rail Gourmet and Select Service Partners (SSP) staff into the union. The fruits of this project were borne recently when ten new reps attended their first training course at the RMT education centre in Doncaster. RMT believed that on-board catering facilities should be delivered by in-house catering staff working from properly resourced buffet cars rather than agency staff providing a trolley service. However it was also vital that the union recruits these agency workers. “There should be no barriers to these staff joining the union, as only then can we press for them to be brought back in- house,” said Pat. The McNulty report proposes DEFENDING CATERING GRADES A packed hotel, catering and ancillary grades conference meeting in Stockport rejects McNulty and the casualisation of the industry