LEEDS PROTEST AGAINST OUTSOURCING

RMT helpline 0800 376 3706 :: may/june 2026 :: RMTnews 5 Eddie Dempsey congratulated the cleaners for holding out for improved conditions around the transfer of the contract from ABM to Mitie, when the employers have finally budged. “The sick pay scheme will be funded by TfL itself, further eroding the logic of outsourcing. “TfL will now be providing staff travel passes for outsourced workers and paying cleaners’ sick pay. Why not simply employ them directly?” he asked. Despite the victory sick pay entitlement for cleaners remains well below that of their directly employed workmates. Pension arrangements are still inadequate, and TfL and outsourced contractors continue to treat the London Living Wage as a ceiling, rather than a floor. “RMT will continue fighting on all these issues and, ultimately, for direct, in- house employment. “The significant step forward on sick pay shows what’s possible when we stand together and refuse to give up the fight,” he said. RMT members protested in Leeds outside the meeting of Transport for the North’s Board to demand a ‘wave of in- sourcing’ at Northern Trains. Even though Northern Trains will soon become part of a publicly owned Great British Railways, many rail workers are being left out of Great British Railways because they are outsourced to private companies.   Northern Trains currently outsources station staff, cleaners and security guards to companies like Carlisle and ISS. Carlisle, which is owned by the Tory peer Lord Ashcroft, is typical of the worst of outsourcing firms in its treatment of staff.  RMT general secretary Eddie Dempsey said that outsourcing companies cut costs to boost profits, resulting in inferior pay and conditions for staff and a worse service for passengers. “RMT members at Carlisle on Northern Trains are currently in a bitter dispute with their employer over their employer’s refusal to negotiate pay.  “Instead, Carlisle chooses to impose the minimum possible pay rates it can get away with and blame Northern Trains instead.  “Our members have been forced to take industrial action in the form of strikes and refusing to scan tickets to try to get a negotiated pay rise,” he said.   Since the dispute began, Carlisle managers have tried to bully and intimidate workers into submission by keeping them on zero hours contracts and threatening to cut shifts or holiday entitlement just for taking legal strike action. Carlisle and Northern keep passing the buck between them, each blaming the other for the dispute, while hoping members will be starved into giving up. RMT has launched a petition to Northern Trains (see QR code below). Early Day Motion 2929 has also been tabled in Parliament by Rebecca Long-Bailey MP calling on Northern Trains to resolve the dispute and insource workers. LEEDS PROTEST AGAINST OUTSOURCING Union demands Northern Trains bring station staff, cleaners and security guards in-house