PCS members marching

PCS members marching   (Click to enlarge: opens in new window)

PCS strikers mean business

Outsourced workers at the UK Government Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS) are taking strike action on 8-10 April. PCS union members have been taking strike action since the start of the year demanding the London Living Wage of £10.55 an hour and terms and conditions comparable with civil servants who work in the same department.

These workers are on poverty pay – paid below what the Living Wage Foundation calculates you need to earn to live in London – and deserve a pay rise. BEIS and their cut-price contractors Aramark and ISS have refused to meet even this first of our demands. The outsourced workers have been on strike three times to demand a fair wage, and are determined to continue strike action until they win.

So on 8-10 April, Aramark members (catering) will walk out on strike for three days. PCS members are determined to stay strong in the face of intimidating behaviour by their employer (threatening redundancies) and threats to their PCS representatives.

BEIS London and South PCS branch

Rail cleaners’ walkout

Members of the RMT transport union – working on the London Overground for Vinci as cleaners on an Arriva Rail contract – will take further 48-hour strike action in April after voting overwhelmingly for a walkout over pay and conditions.

The union has instructed members not to sign on for any shifts commencing between 9pm 4 April and 9pm 6 April.

The cleaners, who formerly worked for Carillion before its collapse and were transferred to outsourcing company Vinci, will also hold a mass demonstration outside Arriva Rail London’s head office in Swiss Cottage, north London on 5 April at 10am.