TUBE CLEANERS TAKE PAY FIGHT TO INTERSERVE

Tube cleaners working for giant facilities company Interserve protested over pay and conditions outside their headquarters last month. The cleaning contractor Interserve, one of two main cleaning companies on London Underground, often leave Tube cleaners short paid, leaving them massively in arrears. The multimillion pound multinational corporation blames administrative errors but the union says that it is stealing money from low-paid workers in one of the world's most expensive cities. Cleaners face bullying and harassment from managers, on top of having to do one of the hardest and most unpleasant jobs on London Underground. Interserve is also slashing jobs across the Tube and night shift cleaner numbers have been reduced by more than 50 percent in locations like Oxford Circus, where five cleaners now have to do work previously done by 13. The company also subcontracts to agencies like AGS People, which pressure their workers into registering as "self-employed contractors" or "limited liability companies" in order to avoid paying National Insurance on their wages and to avoid having to respect statutory rights on sick pay and holidays. RMT is taking the fight to Interserve demanding: Pay all cleaners in full, on time, every time. - £10 an hour! - Stop job cuts. - Direct employment for all agency workers. - Travel passes for cleaners. RMT general secretary Mick Cash said that Tube cleaners do some of the dirtiest and worst paid jobs on the transport network and they have had enough “Boris Johnson and his TfL top-brass cannot wash their hands while workers who keep the tube clean are treated like the dirt they sweep up. “This is an outrage that shames London this Christmas as the Mayor claims we are a modern, global capital city while his own workers are subjected to Dickensian pay and conditions by his appointed contractors. “Ultimately, we want LU to take outsourced functions like cleaning back in house, so cleaners have access to the same pay scales, pension rights, and staff benefits as other Tube workers. “In the meantime we would urge Londoners to support their tube cleaners in their fight for workplace justice,” he said. TUBE CLEANERS TAKE PAY FIGHT TO INTERSERVE RMT helpline 0800 376 3706 :: january 2016 :: RMTnews 6 R MT secured a massive pre- Christmas pay victory for key groups of staff working for outsourcing company Interserve on London’s Docklands Light Railway. After RMT put on a package of strike action and action short of a strike further negotiations were held with Interserve on the pay issue. As a result of industrial pressure the company agreed to a 75p per hour increase for all cleaning supervisors, travel safe and security staff, backdated to April 2015, an increases of around eight per cent. RMT’s executive welcomed the breakthrough and called off the next planned phase of planned industrial action. RMT general secretary Mick Cash said that the victory gave some much-needed Christmas cheer to a group of London transport workers who had fought long and hard for pay justice. “This pay victory proves that low paid workers can get organised into a fighting trade union and use their collective industrial strength to win a fair deal in the workplace. “It will send out a positive message to millions of workers facing a bleak Christmas to join a union and fightback in 2016,” he said. MASSIVE DLR CLEANERS PAY VICTORY