London Underground cleaners’ strike shows that action can win
LONDON UNDERGROUND CLEANERS organised by the Rail, Maritime and Transport Workers Union (RMT) took three days strike action in June and July and have won an important victory.
Cleaners employed by Metronet* have won the
London .living wage, which is currently calculated to be £7.45 per hour. Cleaners employed by ISS, who have the contract for cleaning on TubeLines*, will get a 60p per hour rise from 1 September, and incremental increases until they reach £7.45 by April 2009. These rises represent 30+ per cent increase on the £5.50 per hour cleaners earned before the strikes.
The cleaners had been due to take further strike action, joined by cleaners organised by the Transport and General Workers Union (TGWU), but the action was suspended when the offer of a pay increase was made. The cleaners have not won all of their original demand which included more holidays, better sick pay, a better pension, and more job security. They will also have to be vigilant that the contracting companies really do pay up.
Despite these qualifications, this is an important victory for London Underground cleaners and for the RMT. It shows that against difficult odds, taking action can win.
RMT activists report that the union worked hard for years to organise the cleaners before the ballot to strike was taken. Importantly, this work included training representatives from among the cleaners themselves. In the ballot, there was a 99+ per cent vote to strike. The strikes were solid, in spite of the considerable victimisation that took place of activists.
During and in the aftermath of the strikes, ISS has used immigration checks to intimidate cleaners, many of whom are migrant workers. A number of activists have been suspended and some even deported as a result of this use of the immigration laws by the employers.
* TubeLines maintains trains and infrastructure on Jubilee, Northern and Piccadilly lines; Metronet, which was recently taken back inhouse, does the maintenance on all other London Underground lines.
And solidarity is helpful too...
THE MORALE OF the London Underground cleaners taking strike action was boosted by a number of protests organised in solidarity:
● Brent TUC met on 30 July to discuss the dispute. After the meeting, they marched to a nearby London Underground depot where a cleaner activist was facing a disciplinary. Seeing the protest, the employers agreed to an RMT rep attending the hearing, which they had not allowed before.
● A group called Feminist Fightback held two protests, in one they occupied the foyer of Transport for
London (TfL) and insisted that TfL should not be allowed to wash their hands of what was being done to cleaners by contractors.
● A group called Campaign Against Immigration Controls occupied the offices of ISS to protest against them using immigration law to intimidate their employees.
