DOCKLANDS CLEANERS STRIKE

RMT helpline 0800 376 3706 :: april 2013 :: RMTnews 6 S trike action by cleaners working on the Churchill’s contract on Arriva Trains Wales has been suspended after the company finally agreed to make a pay offer. The company had previously refused any form of pay increase, failed to attend meetings with the union to discuss the matter and offered to fund any pay award with redundancies. Following a massive nine to one vote for action RMT members, some of the worst paid staff in the whole transport industry, were instructed to prepare for strike action. However the company came forward with an improved offer which is being put out to the members to referendum with a recommendation to accept. RMT general secretary Bob Crow congratulated members and RMT negotiators for standing firm. “Churchill’s, working for Arriva Trains Wales with the train operators approval, has doubled its profits in the past five years and has extracted nearly £7 million from the exploitation of essential cleaning staff on the most basic pay and conditions. “This battle on Arriva Trains Wales has shown that the campaign against low pay and exploitation can produce results and RMT will continue to ratchet up the pressure for fairness as part of our national cleaners’ campaign,” he said. R MT has slammed plans to transfer some Tube Lines clerical and project staff back in-house to London Underground/Transport for London without pension or travel facilities and has threatened industrial action to defend the terms and conditions of its members. RMT general secretary Bob Crow said that while proposals to re-integrate some staff into LUL may sound positive after the long-running PPP Tube privatisation fiasco, the 700 or so staff involved would not be allowed to join the TfL pension fund. “Combined with the refusal to match travel facilities with existing staff this erosion of conditions would create a two- tier workforce and undermine the entire pension fund. “This is a direct attack on the TfL pension fund as it cuts off new funding and will allow management to further attack existing terms and conditions. “RMT has grave concerns about this and any further staffing reductions and these attacks will be resisted using industrial action if necessary,” he said. ARRIVA TRAINS WALES CLEANERS BREAKTHROUGH RMT SLAMS TWO-TIER WORKFORCE PLANS AT LONDON UNDERGROUND/TFL R MT members working for Carlisle Cleaning and Security on the Docklands Light Railway contract took strike action last month as part of their campaign to secure a decent pay rise. RMT has also been campaigning against zero hour contracts for DLR cleaners and for the cleaning contract to be brought in-house. RMT general secretary Bob Crow has written to Transport for London pointing out that the contractor had not made a serious pay offer and it does not even pay the London living wage which this year is £8.30 an hour. “The DLR is a service funded by Transport for London and under its control so it is unacceptable that staff working for DLR to be on zero hours contracts and paid less than the London living wage. The union has also made representations to Serco Docklands which runs the trains and the London Mayor and the Greater London Assembly. DOCKLANDS CLEANERS STRIKE