Oct 8, 2008 2
SOLIDARITY WITH CLEANERS ON THE UNDERGROUND – TAKE ACTION
note: please circulate the information below to all contacts and networks
17 years ago, cleaners on the Underground in London earnt £5.75 an hour. In 2008, many earn less than this. Cleaners on the Underground have taken three days of strike action this summer for a London living wage, pensions, sick pay, an end to third party sackings, 28 days’ annual leave and free travel to work. This won a commitment from Transport for London that cleaners on all but three lines would receive a living wage. However, payments have taken 2 months to come through, some contractors are refusing to pay them and the contractor who runs the three remaining lines is refusing to budge. On top of this, racist immigration laws have been used to intimidate those in the union, and three members have been deported. The dispute is far from over!
Cleaning contractors ISS have been given a 10 week ultimatum by the unions to ensure that there is a timetable for a living wage for the final three lines. In the meantime, it is important that cleaners’ organising continues. There has been a significant turnover of cleaners since immigration victimisations began. New cleaners need to be invited to join the union, and existing members need encouraging to take action.
We have printed 1500 leaflets printed, with updates on the dispute, victimisations and solidarity actions. We hope to distribute these to cleaners and tubeworkers over the next few weeks, focusing on key stations for potential future strike action.
We have planned several times to go out leafleting together, to get experience and confidence for doing it in smaller teams at targeted stations over the next few months. All are welcome:
Thur 9 Oct, 6.30pm, King’s Cross Contact: Anna 07952 254487
Sat 11 Oct, 10am, Waterloo Contact: Anne-Marie 07840 381195
Mon 13 Oct, 6.30pm, Stratford Contact: Guled 07857 973349
DEMONSTRATE IN SOLIDARITY WITH TUBE CLEANERS AT MAYOR’S QUESTION TIME
Meet outside City Hall (by the river between London Bridge and Tower Bridge).
The Mayor Boris Johnson, is the chair of Transport for London. At Mayor’s Questions in July, he smugly promised that Metronet cleaners would receive a living wage by August. Not only did this not happen until two months later (and then patchily), but even while he was announcing it, racist immigration laws were being used to clamp down on union activists and members.
Next Wednesday is Mayor’s Questions again. We want to show the Mayor that he hasn’t seen the last of this dispute, and that we hold him along with the bosses of the cleaning contractors responsible for immigration victimisations. Come along and make some noise in solidarity with the cleaners. Bring banners, placards and noisemakers!
For more information about solidarity direct action, call 07840 381195.