MITIE CLEANERS FIGHT FOR LIVING WAGE

RMT helpline 0800 376 3706 :: november/december 2013 :: RMTnews 5 R MT members working for sub- contractors Mitie on First Great Western took strike action for the third time in November in a fight for a Living Wage and against zero hours contracts. The strike came as news emerged that the Mitie’s top boss, presiding over the culture of low pay and zero hours contracts, had raked in over £1.37 million with shareholder dividends soaring to over £20 million. The most recent company accounts show that Mitie Group PLC for the year 2012-13 made pre-tax profits of £58.8 million, paid out dividends to shareholders of £20.6 million which represents a 11.9 per cent increase, with the highest paid director pocketing £1.374 million, a 7.4 per cent increase. The latest phase of action by Mitie/FGW staff follows two rock-solid 24 hour strike which kicked off in October and which saw pickets out in force at key locations across the franchise with a major, high profile protest at London’s Paddington station. The matters at the heart of the dispute are simple – the fight for pay and workplace justice for the lowest paid groups of staff on the lucrative First Great Western service and an end to the poison of zero hours contracts. The strike comes against the backdrop of First themselves being awarded a massive, multi-million pound two year extension of their contract which nails the lie that there is no money available to pay their cleaners a living wage on secure contracts with decent working conditions. Mitie, the government’s favoured ‘facilities management’ contractors, are renowned for swallowing up public contracts that make them a fortune off the backs of thousands of low paid, casualised workers. Fresh from winning a 20 per cent pay increase for cleaners on the North East’s Metro service in similar circumstances, RMT is taking Mitie on and exposing the company and the huge sums they are making from a culture of poverty pay and job insecurity. RMT has handed out thousands of leaflets to FGW passengers asking them to email the company in support of the cleaners who do some of the dirtiest jobs on the network for some of the lowest wages. RMT general secretary Bob Crow said that the Mitie boardroom was awash with cash and there was no doubt that both staff and public anger will be raised to new heights. “RMT members have shown guts and determination throughout this long fight for workplace and pay justice and we expect strong support from across the labour movement as we move into this second phase of industrial action. “First Group landed a jackpot rollover with a two year contract extension on Great Western that will make them and their sub- contractors a fortune so now is the time for the cleaners out there day and night to get their fair share through a Living Wage, decent sick pay and benefits and an end to the evil of zero hours contracts,” he said. MITIE CLEANERS FIGHT FOR LIVING WAGE Visit rmtv.org.uk for a full video