ADELPHI PROTEST FOR A LIVING WAGE

RMT helpline 0800 376 3706 :: october 2016 :: RMTnews 7 L ow-paid hotel workers and their supporters staged a stages a flash-mob protest outside Liverpool’s Adelphi hotel to turn the spotlight on profiteering at the world-famous institution. With Adelphi profits up by a huge 40 per cent and Britannia’s owners sharing an eye-watering dividend of £35 million, the union said that it was time for the hotel’s super-exploited staff to receive a fair share of the profits their labour generates. RMT membership at the hotel has rocketed in recent months, and the union is launching a campaign to secure decent pay and an end to demeaning and insecure zero-hours contracts at the profitable hotel. RMT general secretary Mick Cash said that the Adelphi was supposed to be one of Britain’s premier hotels, yet its hard- working staff are on appalling pay and conditions. “Britannia Hotels can hardly plead poverty, but for too long they have treated their staff as expendable, with rock-bottom wages, no sick pay scheme and the imposition of insecure zero- hours contracts on the very people they rely on to make their profits. “It is a source of shame that a hotel chain that rakes in millions should seek to exploit any and every means to squeeze ever more out of its staff. “Yet on top of barely legal poverty pay, the company wants to reduce by 20 per cent the time allowed to clean rooms and is attempting to reduce back-of- house staffing levels to ludicrously inadequate levels. “And anyone who dares point out that cutting cleaning time and putting even greater burdens on already overworked staff is bad for business is faced with the threat of suspension and disciplinary action. “There is no doubt that Britannia can afford decent pay and conditions, and RMT is determined that its members at the Adelphi will be treated with the dignity and respect they deserve,” he said. C arillion Rail signed up to a new charter last month aimed at helping employees who become terminally ill at work. Carillion Rail managing director Andy Joy signed up at RMT Midlands office along with RMT regional organise Ken Usher and Midlands TUC Regional Secretary Lee Barron. The Dying to Work Voluntary Charter is a TUC initiative which sets out how employers can support terminally ill workers following their diagnosis. It is part of a wider campaign to win greater security for terminally ill workers through a ‘protected period’ where they cannot be dismissed as a result of their condition. Dying to Work was set up by the TUC following the case of Jacci Woodcook who was forced out of her job after being diagnosed with terminal breast cancer. The TUC is asking employers to sign up to its voluntary charter to stop cases like Jacci’s happening in the future. RMT regional organiser Ken Usher said that to receive the awful dreaded news that you are terminally ill is difficult to deal with. “Therefore this charter seeks to provide support via good employers to their workers in order that they are treated with dignity, compassion and respect without being `cast adrift’ from their job, workplace and colleagues” “I am extremely pleased that Carillion, one of our leading employers, have signed up to this charter and I now encourage all other decent like- minded employers to follow their lead and sign up to this charter. Andy Joy said that Carillion Rail was delighted to sign up as it “reflects one of Carillion’s core values, ‘we care’, and demonstrates our commitment to treating our workforce fairly and with respect”. ADELPHI PROTEST FOR A LIVING WAGE CARILLION SIGNS UP TO TUC CHARTER