ISS CLEANERS STRIKE

RMT helpline 0800 376 3706 :: october 2012 :: RMTnews 7 L ow-paid cleaners on the prestigious East Coast mainline and the key London Midland service, working for contractors ISS stepped up their fight for pay justice with 24- hour strike action last month. Picket lines were mounted at Kings Cross and other key locations including Newcastle and Nottingham with the cleaners and their supporters urging the travelling public to pile pressure on ISS, East Coast and London Midland to end the scandal of poverty pay. The strikes were launched after RMT members voted by a massive 98 per cent margin for action against an employer that has offered no pay rise for three years and follows rock solid action by ISS cleaners working out of London Midland’s Bletchley, Northampton and King’s Heath depots. The union also mounted a lobby of a "Living Wage Event" held at Newcastle Civic Centre as East Coast and Tyne and Wear Metro cleaners took their respective pay justice campaigns to the event. In both the East Coast and London Midland disputes ISS has chosen to ignore calls for a living wage for workers who play a key role in providing a safe and clean travelling environment for passengers and who are an essential part of the transport team. Speaking at the TUC Congress being held in Brighton, RMT general secretary Bob Crow said that rail cleaners’ were at the cutting edge of the UK battle for pay justice against corporate greed and they deserved support from across the labour movement. “The scandal of low pay on two of the country’s busiest and most prestigious rail routes continues with ISS assuming that they can get away with exploiting workers who are key to delivering high quality services. “ISS are plainly wrong and they now have a workforce that is organised, angry and determined to win this fight for pay justice. “ISS boasts on its website about how fairly it treats its workers but their employees know only too well that it is a pack of lies. “Behind the corporate claims is the sordid reality of effective pay cuts and attacks on standards of living being imposed year-on-year on cleaners already on rock-bottom rates,” he said. The union has made clear that rail companies East Coast and London Midland had a moral responsibility to ensure that the people who work on their contracts were treated decently and should not be hiding behind the shabby excuse that cleaners’ pay is a matter for the contracting companies. “We will be targeting ISS and the rail companies as we ramp up this fight for a living wage. “RMT remains available for talks aimed at achieving a fair and just settlement to these disputes,” said Bob. ISS CLEANERS’ STRIKE