Eurostar/OCS protest at Oval Cricket ground.

Last Friday RMT cleaners, activists and Trade Unionists leafletted Oval cricket ground telling OCS to Clean up their Act. OCS, the cleaning contractor for Eurostar, pay £5million corporate sponsorship yet they claim they can't afford to pay their cleaners a living wage.

No doubt we caused some embarrasment-although i dont usually like to use a moralistic argument today i was forced to. At £400 per ticket. most of those attending probably have no idea what it is like to live on £5-6 per hour. £400 is at least double what cleaners earn for a whole week. Whilst these rich fatcats can afford to take a day of for leisure - most weren't even there to watch the cricket, but to do business deals and rub each others bellies - OCS cleaners are not even entitled to take a day off if sick.

Most cricket grounds have areas for corporate hospitality of about 5%. At the Oval this is actually 45%. This was certainly reflected in the response we got from the audience. A great majority of the poncy ticket holders would not even acknowledge that we were there let alone take our leaflets. Sporting the middle/upper class uniform of khaki pants, blue & white shirts they looked down at us from under their Panama hats.

If they didnt take our protest leaflets in their hands, we forced it to go into their ears. We chanted relentlessly that OCS need to 'Clean up their act' and pay their cleaners a decent wage.

...more tmrw



TAKE ACTION TODAY!

Write to Eurostar to support cleaners strike for London Living Wage



RMT members working on the Eurostar service for cleaning contractor OCS took 24 hours of strike action on Bank Holiday Monday, 25 August. The RMT cleaners also demonstrated outside the Oval cricket ground on Friday 29 August where OCS sponsors the corporate hospitality stand during the England match.

The action was supported 100% by the cleaners, with many joining the union as the strike action approached. The vast majority of engineers working directly for Eurostar at the Temple Mills depot also refused to cross the cleaners picket line which left the depot like a ghost town.

The cleaners are demanding an increase from 6.37 per hour to the 7.45 rate set down as the London Living Wage by the London Mayor. They are also demanding shift and weekend rates, sick pay, a pension scheme and improved holidays.

The cleaners recognise that it is Eurostar UK Ltd as well as their own employer that is responsible for their poverty pay and poor conditions. So they also intend to supplement their strike action with a series of protests targeting Eurostars hypocrisy in marketing itself as an environmental organisation while enforcing pay misery through sub-contracts.

Eurostar has promoted a highly successful Tread Lightly environmental marketing campaign in partnership with Friends of the Earth, proclaiming its zero carbon emissions train service, in contrast to the airlines. This appeal to middle class guilt of course totally shrouds Eurostars rank hypocrisy of stamping all over its contract cleaners through poverty pay, a practice that is identical to most airlines.

Questions also ought to be asked of Friends of the Earths role in jumping into bed with such an exploitative organisation.

The union will be announcing more strike action next week and more protest actions. In the meantime, their RMT branch is asking supporters to protest direct to Eurostar through its Write to Richard campaign. People are encouraged to email the Eurostar Chief Executive Richard Brown demanding the London Living Wage for cleaners at: richard.brown@eurostar.co.uk using your own words or the model letter below.

Model letter to: 'richard.brown@eurostar.co.uk'


Subject: Industrial action by cleaners employed on Eurostar OCS Contract


Dear Mr Brown,


I am extremely disappointed to learn that the cleaners on the Eurostar service are currently paid more than 1 per hour below the London Living Wage. I hope that you agree that in order for Eurostar to maintain its image as a progressive and ethical organisation it must ensure that everybody working on the Eurostar service is at least paid at the hourly rate of the London Living Wage.


The image and reputation of Eurostar is damaged by the double standard of having a Tread Lightly campaign on the environment, while exploiting cleaners through low pay and poor conditions.


I do hope that your company will take the necessary steps to ensure that it looks after the people working on the service as well as those which have been taken in caring for the environment. I urge you to take the necessary measures to eliminate the poverty pay currently endured by the cleaners at Eurostar.


Yours sincerely,


YOUR NAME HERE

People before Profit stunt at Eurostar.

Just after lunch on Friday 15 August ten comrades armed with props, banners and leaflets descended upon the entrance of Eurostar terminal at St Pancras to protest about the treatment of its' cleaners. Eurostar cleaners get just £6.37 an hour even if they work nights and for however long they have worked for the contractor, OCS, with no pay rises EVER. They are not entitled to sick pay for the first three days and do not get the statutory bank holiday pay. Like the Tube cleaners they are demanding dignity at work and proper rights.

We put on a small visual stunt to show the Eurostar bosses that we will stand by the cleaners in their struggles. What ensued slightly freaked us out!

St Pancras station, once publicly owned, is now private property belonging to Eurostar so we knew we wouldn't have long before the police turfed us off. A comrade donned a fat cat outfit complete with greedypig mask and we gathered behind the People Before Profit banner for a speedy group photo. We then began to quickly hand out leaflets to unsuspecting staff and customers, particularly targeting people with luggage. The reception was very warm and immediately other St Pancras staff, security, cafe and shop workers took notice of what we were doing and came out to give us their full support.

A few Eurostar staff came over to us from the other side of the barriers, grabbed a stack of leaflets and took them back through the barriers. We could see them surreptitiously handing them out to all the staff within the Eurostar offices. They then re-approached us, gave us their phone numbers and expressed their gratitude that we are taking up these issues The were very angry about the treatment the cleaners receive and continued to describe how all the staff are also treated appallingly. They are looking forward to coming out on strike with other RMT members on Wednesday, and they will also be attending the rally on Tuesday.

A couple of Community Support Officers (the lesser paid plastic police with bugger all power but who generally strut around as if they do) walked slowly towards us. We tried to ignore them but we could not help noticing them staring at the banner; they smiled, nodded in agreement then went on their merry way leaving us to carry on-which we did in total bewilderment.

The goodwill continued to flow: Carole Vincent (infamous Big Brother contestant) got into friendly banter, as usual, another member: he said he was a fan of hers and had wanted her to win BB-he was only too pleased to he had talked to the police because he totally agreed with the cause and wanted us to continue.

In the end, after a full 50 or so minutes (bearing in mind that we had prepared to be removed within 2 minutes) and after running out of leaflets we gathered our kit, wished everyone solidarity for the impending strike actions and bid our farewells. We left with a resounding feeling of confidence that next weeks strikes are going to be lively, angry and no doubt will impact in a big way.

We send a clear message to the government and the big bosses that we will not stand for further cuts and demand the reinstatement of the most basic rights that should be afforded to every human being.

What can i say: It's been emotional...

Clare Solomon

Read more about the People Before Profit charter

Read more about the industrial battles on London transport scheduled for next week