MASSIVE CLEANERS PAY VICTORY AT NETWORK RAIL

RMT helpline 0800 376 3706 :: march 2020 :: RMTnews 7 RMT has secured a massive victory against the scourge of low pay on Britain’s railways after striking a ground-breaking deal that means that all staff employed in the cleaners’ supply chain on Network Rail contracts will be paid the real living wage from April. The deal will benefit hundreds of staff on contracts cleaning Network Rail managed stations and estates and staff in London will guaranteed a minimum of £10.75 an hour and staff outside the capital will earn no less that £9.30 an hour. Network Rail has five separate five-year outsourced contracts: two station cleaning contracts with a combined estimated value of £120 million and three that cover NR’s operational buildings with an estimated value of £43 million. The southern stations contract was won by troubled outsourcing giant Interserve while the other four were won by Mitie plc. NR’s tender documents show that it was simply looking for the cheapest possible bid and the outsourcing companies won with offers that came in significantly under the contracts’ estimated value. Given that cleaning is a labour-intensive industry in which wages can be as much as 85 per cent of costs, low value bids mean companies pressing to cut staffing costs. For cleaners working on these contracts, this has meant cuts to staffing numbers, growing workloads, and for many of them, pay rates below the Real Living Wage. With neither company willing to recognise the union across all sites, RMT has been organising and fighting to win recognition and tackle low pay at each station while building public and political pressure on Network Rail, Mitie and Interserve. Last year, RMT waged a highly successful campaign to win the Real Living Wage on Mitie’s stations contract, with more than 80,000 people signing a public petition and motions of support from MPs in Westminster and the Scottish Parliament. Following the news that these workers would have their pay lifted to at least the Real Living Wage, RMT sought to get this extended to the operational building contracts, arguing that Network Rail had a responsibility to lift pay across its cleaning contracts. The latest deal has been secured with the support and assistance of Labour MP and RMT Parliamentary Group chair Ian Mearns. RMT general secretary Mick Cash said that the deal represented a significant victory for RMT and its members in the battle to eliminate low pay on the rail network. “It sets a floor for the rest of the industry and will be a springboard to pushing ahead with our campaigning with the train operators and others in the rail sector. “RMT has set as one of its core objectives the battle to value our cleaners and caterers and let the message ring out loud and clear – we are fighting and we are winning. “I want to pay tribute our negotiators, Ian Mearns from our parliamentary group and most of all our members who have got themselves organised and proved the point that when RMT is on the case no one gets left behind. “This is a massive shot in the arm and we are sending a signal to the remaining cheapskate employers in our industry that we are coming for you,” he said. MASSIVE CLEANERS PAY VICTORY AT NETWORK RAIL Union wins real living wage for workers who clean Britain’s railway stations VICTORY: Negotiators RMT regional organiser Craig Johnston with Labour MP and RMT parliamentary chair Ian Mearns and regional organiser Eddie Dempsey following the breakthrough victory