ATALIAN SERVEST STRIKERS ON THE PICKET LINES

RMT helpline 0800 376 3706 :: april 2022 :: RMTnews 16 Atalian Servest cleaners returned to the picket lines earlier this month for 48-hour strike action following a new report which exposed the brutal reality of life for cleaners working to clean Avanti West Coast trains. In a report published by the union 91 per cent of Atalian Servest cleaners said that they were struggling to make ends meet, with 68 per cent saying they were regularly struggling and a shocking 94 per cent of said they had had to come into work while sick because they couldn’t afford not to. The long running dispute is over fair pay for twice- outsourced cleaners employed by French multinational Atalian Servest working in French multinational Alstom’s depots, cleaning Avanti West Coast’s trains. The cleaners, who earn just £9.68 an hour want a fair pay rise to meet the cost of living and a proper sick pay scheme so that they don’t have to work when sick. So far, bosses of the three companies have failed to engage properly with this claim in spite of the escalating cost-of-living crisis. A group of West Coast MPs have now also weighed into the dispute, writing to the directors of the three companies urging them to make funds available for a fair pay settlement. RMT general secretary Mick Lynch welcome this intervention from West Coast MPs because the companies involved are effectively trying to starve our members back to work rather than pay them a fair wage. “These companies are all paying multi-million pound dividends while our members struggle to pay their bills and come into work with Covid. “The government is effectively running these contracts now and the plight of our rail cleaners is on them as much as the fat cat parasites. The industry needs to sort this out now,” he said. ATALIAN SERVEST STRIKERS ON THE PICKET LINES New RMT report exposes massive exploitation and MPs write to company directors urging a settlement LETTER TO EMPLOYERS FROM LABOUR MPS Daniel Dickson, CEO, Atalian Servest, Nicholas Crossfield, Managing Director, Alstom Transport Phil Whittingham, Managing Director, Avanti West Coast, 5th April 2022 Fair pay for Atalian Servest rail cleaners We are writing to you to urge you to agree on funding a fair pay offer to cleaners working to keep our trains safe and hygienic on the West Coast franchise. We believe that cleaners are essential workers and we agree with the Prime Minister when he said that they do an ‘extraordinary job’. We are deeply concerned at the impact of rising inflation on pay rates as low as £9.68 per hour and we are disturbed to learn that these people, who have put their lives on the line during the pandemic, are not given occupational sick pay or travel facilities. It is not right that people who have worked so hard to keep our essential services running should be struggling to make ends meet and living month to month. We urge you to agree on funds that can support decent pay offers that resolve the disputes on our region’s railways and we would be glad to meet you to discuss this further. Dan Carden MP, Liverpool Walton Margaret Greenwood MP, Wirral West Kim Johnson MP, Liverpool Riverside Charlotte Nichols MP, Warrington North Cat Smith MP, Lancaster and Fleetwood Alison Thewliss MP, Glasgow Central Mick Whitley MP, Birkenhead Ian Mearns MP (Chair RMT Parliamentary Group) STRIKE: Point TPE and cleaners picket in Preston