CLEANERS DELIVER PAY JUSTICE PETITION TO GOVIA

5 RMT helpline 0800 376 3706 :: october 2021 :: RMTnews T ory Transport Secretary Grant Shapps MP has been accused of of gross insensitivity and insulting thousands of rail workers who are facing a cost- of-living crisis and job insecurity as the government continues with its policy of a sector wide pay freeze whilst thousands of rail workers’ jobs are under threat. Appearing at the Transport Select Committee Grant Shapps was responding to a question from Grahame Morris MP about the freeze on transport workers’ pay whilst National Insurance is being hiked and private companies like FirstGroup plc pay out £500 million dividends to shareholders. In his response to the question Grant Shapps claimed that he had spoken to rail workers who are “grateful to have jobs and understand the need for a pay freeze”. RMT general secretary Mick Lynch said that for the Transport Secretary to claim that rail workers were grateful just to have jobs was an insult to thousands of essential rail workers that have been on the frontline of Covid-19 pandemic, keeping our country and vital supplies moving. “It is also entirely disingenuous as his government and the private rail industry launch an unprecedented attack on jobs and pay. “Grant Shapps really should get out more and speak to rail workers on the frontline who are furious that after all they have done during the Covid-19 pandemic they now are facing the double whammy of a cost- of-living crisis and the major stress of job insecurity. “Like other workers, rail workers are facing huge rises in inflation on top of National Insurance increases. It is a disgrace that transport workers real terms pay is falling while fat cat profits are rising. His insulting comments show that he is completely out of touch,” he said. SHAPPS INSULTS THOUSANDS OF RAIL WORKERS H eroic cleaners who put their lives on the line throughout the Covid-19 pandemic delivered a petition to Govia Thameslink Railways’ headquarters in London last month protesting about pay and conditions and calling on the company to step in and tackle low pay among its sub- contracted cleaning staff. GTR outsources its cleaning to Atalian Servest on the Southeastern franchise and to Churchill on the Thameslink, Southern and Great Northern franchise. As RMT research showed recently, outsourced cleaning is associated with low pay, poor conditions and job cuts, as companies extract profits by cutting labour costs. The union has also warned that this endangers public health. RMT recently conducted a survey of these workers, employed by Atalian Servest and Churchill, which revealed the cost found that: • 61 per cent reported that they sometimes or regularly struggle to get by • 69 per cent reported that they have gone into work while sick because they couldn’t afford not to work • 35 per cent were not confident they have the right equipment to do the job properly • 42 per cent reported that the number of cleaners employed had fallen in the last three years • 61 per cent said they were not confident they had enough people to do their job properly RMT’s campaigning for these heroic essential workers to be given a pay rise, sick pay and travel facilities. RMT general secretary Mick Lynch said that the pandemic had shown everyone just how essential cleaners are, so it’s time GTR realised the days when they could be shuffled off into outsourcing companies and forced to endure low pay and appalling conditions are over. “GTR set and fund these contracts and as our survey results show, they cause real misery as companies like Churchill and Atalian suck profits out at the expense of people who have put their lives on the line during the Covid crisis. “GTR need to step in and take responsibility because this super-exploitation is on them. Our members deserve decent pay, sick pay and the same conditions that other rail workers get,” he said. CLEANERS DELIVER PAY JUSTICE PETITION TO GOVIA