WHERE’S THE WAVE?

RMT helpline 0800 376 3706 :: may/june 2026 :: RMTnews 13 RMT Mitie reps and RMT regional organiser Glen Hart attended inaugural pay talks with Transport for London recently after gaining recognition across all Mitie security TfL contracts. Trade union recognition was achieved following excellent work by LU Fleet and Piccadilly and District West branches, activists and the regional council. Piccadilly and District West began the hard work of organising these outsourced contracts some years ago and made steady progress. Members and reps are keen to continue organising to fight low pay and excessively long hours. “There is a reason nothing in this country works anymore,” RMT general secretary Eddie Dempsey told a rally in Westminster recently, “and that reason is outsourcing”. The rally, organised by the Trade Union Coordinating Group, criticised the Labour government’s failure to live up to its commitment to “the biggest wave of insourcing in a generation”. That pledge was first made by now-Chancellor Rachel Reeves in 2021 and then included in the Labour Party’s ‘Make Work Pay’ policy document prior to the 2024 General Election. Yet, two years on, there has been little progress. Eddie Dempsey also highlighted the Mayor of London’s failure to follow through on his commitment to insource over 3,000 Transport for London cleaners, instead handing the contract over to outsourcing giant, Mitie. “Outsourcing is a scam designed to undermine public services and drive down terms and conditions,” he said, “but like all scams in Britain today, there are plenty of people benefitting from it. “Mitie is one of the biggest privatisers of public services in the country and have seen their revenues more than double from £2.27 billion to over £5 billion in the last decade alone”. He also highlighted the role played by another outsourcer, Carillion, in the Carmont disaster in 2020, which resulted in the deaths of three people, including two RMT members. A recent Rail Accident Investigation Branch (RAIB) investigation revealed that Carillion, which collapsed into liquidation in 2018, had failed to construct a drainage system as agreed and left Network Rail in the dark about how it should be maintained. Among the other speakers was PCS general secretary Fran Heathcoate who highlighted how outsourcing giant Capita had mismanaged the civil service pension scheme and left thousands with late pension payments. Paul Fleming of actors’ union, Equity explained how outsourcing at the BBC had led to 80 per cent of British television production being reliant on US companies, while Mark Fairhurst of the Prison Officers Association said that the outsourcing of prison maintenance had resulted in a £2 billion backlog and “squalid” conditions. “Outsourced workers are more likely to be on zero-hour contracts and at the bottom of the pay scale,” Eddie Dempsey told the meeting. “They are far more likely to have no sick pay and no chance of a decent pension in retirement. Meanwhile, it delivers nothing for the public but chaos and unaccountability. “RMT wants to see a government that ends the outsourcing scam once-and- for-all, we won’t accept anything less,” he said. WHERE’S THE WAVE? Union demands the government acts against outsourcing NEGOTIATING AT MITIE Union wins recognition for Mitie workers at TfL NEGOTIATION: From left to right: Zaffar Iqbal, Giovany Bonuccelli, Carlos Barros (branch secretary who attended staff-side) regional organiser Glen Hart, Lina Senkute, Olushola Mustapha, Ubaid Ullah, Iva Naydenov