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RMT helpline 0800 376 3706 :: january 2022 :: RMTnews
6
Low paid RMT rail cleaners
who work for Churchill Group
are being balloted on Govia
Thameslink Railways, HS1,
Southeastern Railways and
Eurostar contracts to win
justice for cleaners.
Many of the cleaners
employed on the South-East’s
rail network are employed on
the minimum wage while none
of them have company sick
pay or travel facilities equal to
other rail staff.
The union sees these
members as essential workers
who did their duty throughout
the Covid crisis and now they
deserve justice. Therefore RMT
is fighting for £15 an hour and
proper sick pay and help with
travel to work.
Workers also led protests
outside the offices of their
employers and the train
operating companies that
contract as part of their fight
for pay justice.
In a recent survey, 61 per
cent of Churchill cleaners
reported that they sometimes
or regularly struggle to get by
while 69 per cent reported
that they have gone into work
while sick because they
couldn’t afford not to work.
RMT general secretary Mick
Lynch said that the members’
case is unanswerable.
“They’ve worked through
the pandemic on low pay,
without sick pay, without travel
facilities, often short of
equipment and increasingly
understaffed and overworked.
“The train companies spend
money on glossy posters and
adverts saying how much they
care about cleaning, but the
dirty truth is that they turn a
blind eye to the grossest
exploitation from outsourcing
companies like Churchill
because it means bigger
profits all round.
“Our members are sick of it
and if Churchill don’t address
our cleaners’ claim for pay
justice, we’ll be looking at
balloting for industrial action
before long,” he said.
Protestors took their
protest outside South Eastern
Trains Limited’s offices at near
London Bridge then on to
Southeastern Trains, Govia’s
offices at Monument and
finally Churchill’s Fleet Street
Offices.
The union also published an
appeal to the judges of the
Annual Cleaning Excellence
Awards to recognise the plight
of these cleaners and called
on judges to recommend
justice for shortlisted
Churchill’s railway cleaners.
CHURCHILL CLEANERS FIGHT
FOR PAY JUSTICE
Cleaners on on Govia Thameslink Railways,
HS1, Southeastern Railways and Eurostar
contracts balloted for action