ABM Cleaners

The following article has been published in the PCS (civil service trade union) activists' magazine. PCS is interested in working to unionise cleaners, and believes that it can learn from our efforts with London Underground cleaners.

London calling: the divided city

A living wage campaign for Underground cleaners continues despite successes last year, says RMT London Transport regional council secretary Janine Booth

Following the resolution passed by our Regional Council in March, the union's General Grades Committee (part of the national executive) made the following decision on June 1st. The latest report is that "work is in progress".

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That we note the resolution from the LT Regional Council and the continuing sackings of our cleaner members and the need to build up our membership in this important grade.

We also take into consideration the recent meeting with our Parliamentary Group, which is placed on file.

The General Secretary is therefore instructed:

I met with I.S.S. management on Thursday 13th August to discuss the £550,000 savings that Metronet wish them to make.

1. I.S.S. guaranteed that no I.S.S employees would be made redundant. All redundancies would come from agency staff.

2. Where possible existing I.S.S. staff would be used to cover all the needed positions in workplaces.

This resolution, submitted by Jubilee South and East London Line branch, was passed at the August Regional Council meeting.

This Branch/Regional Council is appalled, but not surprised, by the recent comments made by the Mayor of London, Boris Johnson, that his payment of £250k, for writing a Sunday newspaper column, was nothing more than ‘chicken feed’.

We feel this is a disgrace, considering the Mayor’s actions in intervening in the current LUL pay dispute, and also the failure to pay cleaners the London living wage.

On Wednesday 17 June, RMT protested outside Mayor's Question Time against Tube cleaners' poverty pay. Protesters demanded that Mayor Boris Johnson keep his promise that everyone working for the GLA or in its areas of responsibility would receive the London Living Wage, recently uprated to £7.60 an hour.

The RMT has been advised that Jenny Jones AM pressed Boris Johnson on Wednesday at Mayor’s Question Time that TfL should meet with Tubelines and RMT on the London Living Wage.

He reportedly responded that there were 50 cleaners who were not in receipt of the London Living Wage but that has now been resolved satisfactorily.

RMT tube workers will be taking a protest to Mayor Boris Johnson’s question time this Wednesday – 17th June – over his broken promises on the London Living Wage for some tube cleaners and over the docking of pay for staff who could not get into work on the snow day in February.

The following resolution was carried at the LU Engineering branch meeting on 19 May 2009

"Proposal to LU Engineering branch from Cleaning Grade Secretary

This is the section of the General Secretary's report to RMT's 2009 AGM concerning the the union's work on black and ethnic minority workers' issues ...

BLACK & ETHNIC SURVEY