Cleaners’ campaign
Rail union RMT has announced strikes by train cleaners around 30 November and 1-2 December. The different disputes are all about fighting low pay and poor working conditions that these workers suffer. The union is coordinating these strikes to launch a national campaign for pay and workplace justice.
The strikes affect ISS workers on London Midland operating out of Bletchley and Northampton and ISS East Coast mainline, ISS London Underground; Carlisle Cleaning on the Transpennine Express and the Docklands Light Railway and Churchill’s cleaning contract on the Tyne and Wear Metro.
An eve of strike rally has also been organised in London on 29 November at 7pm in Conway Hall, Red Lion Square.
Ballot for action
The Department for Work and Pensions group executive committee of civil service union PCS met on 28 November to discuss a recommendation from the group’s campaign committee to ballot the whole group membership. This follows the announcement of compulsory redundancies of 43 staff.
Management claim there is no role for these staff but this is nonsense. In an organisation of 100,000 dealing with employment services and benefits there is more than enough work available.
This is a political not a business decision, it is intended to show that management will make ‘tough’ decisions. It means, if they get away with it, anyone can be made compulsorily redundant. PCS will oppose these redundancies and will ballot quickly in order to organise action in the new year.
Virgin Media
Communications union CWU has exposed the way Virgin Media has stolen trade union recognition from its workforce. As we reported last week, the company called a snap referendum on union recognition on 2 November to run from 7-16 November.
They have now announced a vote of 52% to 48% in favour of the company’s position of derecognition.
The company immediately tore up the recognition agreement in spite of the three-month notice period built into it.
