WINNING FOR CLEANERS

RMT helpline 0800 376 3706 :: may 2017 :: RMTnews 10 Like the majority of privatised train operating companies, Great Western Railway (GWR) outsource the cleaning of their trains,. This allows them to pose as a ‘modern employer’, for example by flaunting their ‘Investors in People’ silver award, at the same time as denying cleaning workers the most basic workplace rights in the pursuit of profit. GWR’s previous train cleaning provider, Mitie, locked RMT members into minimum wage, zero-hours contracts in an environment rife with bullying and intimidation. Following months of strike action by outsourced cleaners and an occupation of GWR’s head offices in Swindon, in the finest traditions of industrial trade unionism, RMT registered a dispute with GWR on the issue of outsourcing. RMT argued that the existence of minimum wage and zero-hours contracts represented a clear and present danger to all GWR employees. If GWR was allowed to employ workers on these contracts through outsourcing their employment to a labour agency, or sub- WINNING FOR CLEANERS RMT executive committee member Eddie Dempsey reports on the fight for sick pay for cleaners at Great Western Railway following a massive pay victory and the ending of agency contracts