Melanie Dent, Reading Socialist Party
Huge multinationals with billions in revenue treat their employees with contempt, particularly in terms of pay.
That is certainly true of Modaxo, the transport-focused division of Constellation Software Inc. It employs civil enforcement officers – traffic wardens – several of whom took industrial action during December and January.
Labour-run Reading Borough Council outsourced traffic enforcement duties to Modaxo, which won’t pay them a decent wage – just £12 an hour.
I and other Reading Socialist Party members visited the Unite the Union picket line to bring our solidarity. Strikers told us that council employees who do the same job are significantly better paid for the same work.
Modaxo is resisting attempts to bring parking enforcement back in-house. A day of action at Modaxo headquarters in Chippenham, Wiltshire is planned.
Unite’s general secretary Sharon Graham said: “Modaxo is a huge multinational conglomerate making billions in revenue, and yet sees fit to penny-pinch and pay poverty wages to our members in Reading.”
