TRAIN cleaners have gone on an 11-day strike over wages.
Cleaning staff employed by contractor Churchill walked out as part of their continued fight for a £15 an hour rate of pay.
Cleaning staff work on South, South East and Eurostar services and can earn as little as £8.91 an hour.
The RMT union is also demanding sick pay and free travel for cleaning staff across the network, in line with other railway workers.
RMT general secretary Mick Lynch said: “Churchill showed complete disregard for key workers who were rightly seen as heroes of the pandemic.
“With the profits made by Churchill, they could easily pay our members a fair wage, pay company sick pay and allow free travel on the network, just like directly employed railway staff.
“But Churchill offered nothing of significance in our pursuit of wage justice.
“RMT will continue to step up their campaign and ensure that these greedy multi-million pound entrepreneurs are stripped of their ability to exploit our railway workers.”
The cleaners had previously staged a one-day strike in February in the fight over wages.
Although the Churchill division employs the cleaners making a profit of more than £11million last year, staff only receive minimum wage.
They remained furious after having to undertake additional tasks during the pandemic to meet strict hygiene requirements.
The RMT argues that the profits could have been used to increase the salaries of cleaning staff.
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Source: www.theargus.co.uk
This notice was published: 2022-04-28 10:11:47
