London Cleaners Demo Outside TFL Windsor House SW1 0TL Friday 30 November 2012 at 12,00 Noon.

London based RMT cleaner and security members will demonstrate outside TFL HQ, Windsor House, 40-52 Victoria Street London SW1H 0TL at 12.00 noon this coming Friday, 30 November, as the union steps up the national campaign for pay justice.

The London cleaners and security staff are demanding that TFL, under the leadership of Mayor Boris Johnson, adopt a policy across all of their contracts for a living wage, free travel, a decent pension and holiday pay. RMT firmly believes that the best way of securing decent pay and conditions, and an end to exploitation, is by bringing all of the cleaning and security work in-house.

The London transport action is part of a national campaign by cleaners on seven major transport cleaning contracts who will be taking strike action this week as RMT harnesses the joint strength of transport cleaners across the country in a battle aimed at securing pay and workplace justice in a series of disputes over pay and conditions.

The strikes will hit services on:

• Carlisle Cleaning and Security on Docklands Light Railway - 05:30 hrs on Thursday 29th November 2012 and 05:29 hrs on Saturday 1st December 2012
• ISS London Underground contract - 05:30 hours on Friday 30th November 2012 and 05:29 hours on Sunday 2nd December 2012.
• Initial contact on London Underground - 05:30 hours on Friday 30th November 2012 and 05:29 hours on Sunday 2nd December 2012.
• ISS contract on London Midland operating out of the Bletchley and Northampton depots - 00:01 hours on Friday 30th November 2012 and 23:59 hours on Saturday 1st December 2012.
• ISS contract on the East Coast mainline - 00:01 hours on Friday 30th November 2012 and 23:59 hours on Saturday 1st December 2012.
• Carlisle Cleaning contract on the Transpennine Express - 00:01 hours on Friday 30th November 2012 and 23:59 hours on Saturday 1st December 2012.
• Churchill’s cleaning contract on Tyne and Wear Metro - 22:30 hours on Friday 30th November 2012 and 22:29 hours on Sunday 2nd December 2012.

An eve of strike rally has also been arranged in London at 7.00 pm on Thursday 29 November at: The Brockway Room, Conway Hall, 25 Red Lion Square, London, WC1R 4RL. The rally will be addressed by RMT General Secretary Bob Crow and by high-profile political supporters and fellow trade unionists backing the RMT cleaners’ campaign.

To step up the political support for the fight for justice, RMT has also called a National Lobby of Parliament for Cleaners in the Transport Industry on 11th December 2012, at 15.00 in Committee Room 11 in the House of Commons, with the assistance of the union’s parliamentary group and its convenor John McDonnell.

RMT General Secretary Bob Crow said:

“RMT is kicking off an unprecedented, co-ordinated national campaign for pay justice for cleaners and security staff across the transport industry. This campaign will involve industrial, political and public campaigning that will drag the exploitation of cleaners out of the shadows and into the spotlight. As well as naming and shaming the companies involved in this low-pay scandal we are also turning the screw on the train operators and transport bodies responsible for awarding these contracts and that includes Mayor Boris Johnson and Transport for London.

“Each one of these seven separate disputes has the same issue at its core – greedy private contractors who seek to exploit their workforce and offer poverty pay while creaming off fat profits for the company shareholders.

“These are all long-running disputes where the train operators and the authorities have sought to wash their hands of the issue and have refused to take any responsibility for the gross and brutal exploitation of cleaners that is taking place on their watch.

“RMT is engaged in a national campaign that will expose the bullies who exploit our cleaners as part of a co-ordinated strategy aimed at securing living wages that keep pace with the true cost of living.

“The rock-solid solidarity shown by RMT cleaners on previous strike days sends out a message that the union is geared up for an all-out fight for cleaners’ pay justice. The train operators and public bodies who give a green light to exploitation by these parasites should be using their clout to force them back to the negotiating table.”