Eurostar cleaners struggle continues

Cleaners on Eurostar trains are ramping up their struggle and have announced further strike dates. Together, we have sent more than 3,400 messages to the company, but they're clearly not listening. We need to encourage many more of our fellow trade union members to participate in this important campaign.

Send a message to the eurostar bosses by clicking the link below:

http://www.labourstart.org/cgi-bin/solidarityforever/show_campaign.cgi?c=575

Please pass this web address on to your friends and co-workers (and send a message yourself if you've not yet done so)

Click the eurostar tag below for photos and videos from previous actions and strikes

Mobile Blogging from here.

[Posted with iBlogger from my iphone ]

Report back from Justice for cleaners mtg this Tuesday.

(I feel terrible that i havent written this before, but the meeting was so good and full of ideas and analysis that i am finding it hard to write elegantly enough to do the meeting justice. So, i will keep adding to it...)

'A victory for one is a victory for all'

I was so inspired by a meeting at SOAS this week.

25 cleaners and trade union reps and other activists from various cleaners campaigns attended a meeting at SOAS on Tuesday to discuss victories and strategy. Among us were people from RMT Eurostar, RMT Tubelines cleaners and RMT reps, SOAS Unison, SOAS UCU, SOAS SU, Queen Mary, Royal Mail, Birkbeck College and various other people.

All three speakers spoke about the confidence their campaigns have gained from having support from other groups and stressed the need to continue building links and extending solidarity. Contributions followed.

Stalin Vermudez, the SOAS Unison branch chair spoke first. Having worked for 7 cleaning companies he explained how all cleaning companies are cowboys, despite the fact that we had OCEAN managers in the room, he said that they all “exploit their workers and that's why they have managers-to do the dirty work”. After hearing about SOAS's success cleaners at Birkbeck have begun to join the union and a campaign has started to make some headway. Birkbeck management accused SOAS of 'opening a can of worms'.

In meeting to debate and decide which cleaning company to employ SOAS management said that 'we are known for going out on a limb-we should be leading the way on workers rights'. I doubt whether this was a sincere statement or just to appease me, as Student Union Governing Body member.

An engineer from Eurostar told us how 74 engineers refused to cross the picket line on the day of OCS cleaners strike action. The engineers are now facing disciplinary action. They now see this disgraceful and illegal move as an 'open door to join the dispute'. They thanked us for all our support on the picket lines and our People Before Profit stunt and leafletting sessions and said they would not have been brave enough to take solidarity action if we had not been there to support them. They said that 'if people can see you fighting others will fight with you'.

OCS think that cleaners are unorganised and wouldn't fight and have relied on this (assumption?) presumption to prevaricate over the terms and conditions of the contract. Their contract is up for renewal and therefore they have nothing to lose. More planned action is pending the outcome of further scheduled negotiations.

Tubelines cleaning rep, Philip Mambuliya (??) argued that 'nothing comes to us sitting in our armchair-we have to fight for it'. ... 'if you dont stand for something, you fall for anything.'

Although Tubelines are very happy with winning the London Living Wage, they are still in the process of negotiating better terms and conditions and of course having to fight against deportations. The TUC have spoken out against the use of immigration controls and have planned a meeting at SOAS on Sunday.

SOAS's Unison Black members rep reiterated the feeling of the meeting when she said that 'exploitation IS racist. Management bang on about their Equal Opps policies but these are no more than empty promises.'

Another speaker told how management at their workplace are taught 'how not to get caught discriminating'. After her succesfull campaign she assured us that it is not a mountain to bring the cleaners in-house and how united we could beat these bullies. She spoke about how the Home office raids 50 workplaces per week and that they have a target of 5,000. Many workplaces dont want to organise migrant workers because they are too high maintenance.

Further, a new law has been introduced, even landlords who dont chek papers are subject to fines of £10,000.

We all left the meeting feeling confident and ready to take the struggle to another level. We need to opush the campaigns across other campuses and other workplaces in London. and we discussed further action.

14 new people signed the People Before Profit charter, 10 of us went to the meeting on the Recession at Friends Meeting House and

Two weeks ago Socialist Worker, through the Freedom Of Information Act, uncovered the story of 2 tube cleaners being deported. Bosses had no issues with workers having no immigration papers

A victory for one is a victory for all BUT an injury to one is an injury to all

I found out after that 8 more cleaners from OCS and Birkbeck couldn't find the venue-what a shame, the mtg was great.

We were suprised but pleased that 2 of the cleaners managers also came. Most of our cleaners are South American, as are the managers, and have faced issues with immigration, non-payment of wages (for 3 months at Christmas), harrasment, victimisation and appaling treatment. 6 months ago, we did a community consultative ballot at which 9 out of 10 students and staff voted to bring the cleaning service in-house. At the ballot box, the said managers came to me and satrted discussing the problems the cleaners have faced and then showed me how they voted-they also voted to bring them in house.

People Before Profit Charter
Public Services Not Private Profit Campaign


ACTIONS DISCUSSED

SOAS Justice for Cleaners relaunch party.

Friday Oct 3rd
SOAS Junior Common Room
Music, food, dancing, discussion and activists forum,

ALL welcome-to invite people from all the campaigns

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

Support OCS cleaners at Oval station picket

After the brilliant, vibrant and angry picket line at Eurostar, St Pancras Monday Bank hoiliday just gone a further picket and demonstration is arranged for THIS Friday 29th August.

OCS are corporate sponsors for Oval cricket ground. How can they afford a massive sponsorship bill if they can't afford to pay their cleaners a Living Wage?

RMT will be picketing the international match against South Africa. Meet 9.15am outside Oval underground station. Please forward to all your contacts to ensure big turnout and maximum support for Eurostar cleaners fight for the Living Wage.

Call me on 07958 034 181 for more details or if you cant find us.

Read the report from Monday in Socialist Worker here.

Read about the Tubeline Cleaners here

A London wide organising meeting to discuss where next for ALL the cleaners will be held next week. Please contact me if you want to attend, have anyone who would like to speak or if you want more info.

Eurostar cleaners strike. "Pay London Living Wage-show us dignity"

I have never been up early enough to catch the sunrise unless i haven't been to sleep from the night before. But 5am yesterday morning I attended my first crack 'o' dawn picket line. Around 30 cleaners from OCS were on strike over pay and conditions.

"Good Pay, Good Cleaning" was the favourite chant of the morning.

At present the cleaners are paid a basic rate of £6.37 per hour. They get NO sick pay, no bank holiday pay not even extra pay for night shifts. They never get a pay rise either, no matter how long they have worked for the company.

OCS is the private cleaning contractor paid £6million to keep the London-Paris 400m long highspeed train clean. With no cleaners available the company will receive massive fines.

Being in the middle of the chants, whistles, banging, dancing and singing was a brilliant experience in itself. The cleaners, who come from all over the world, came together to fight for a single cause-fair pay, fair treatment, dignity and respect.

As we picketed we received news from the other depot in Leyton that the engineers had refused to cross the picket line.

We encountered all the usual arguments from toffy nosed prats who said stuff like 'i really don't care', or 'I dont get holiday pay either', not realising that being paid £100 per hour self-employed or as boss of a company is not the same as being paid £5.52 ph with no sick pay, bank holiday pay, night shift allounace or even getting a measley annual payrise no matter how long you have worked for the company.

The grandson of the owner of OCS, who is obviously a managers, was twitching with annoyance. He said the cleaners should have accepted the deal they offerd them on Friday of £6.50 per hour. No mention of all the other demands.

SOAS Justice for Cleaners campaign and Eurostar cleaners are now arranging a joint meeting to discuss the way forward. And in October SOAS will be hosting a party to bring together cleaners and activists for a night of music, food and dancing. Please contact me for more details.

On a side note, the British Transport Police who were drafted in to make sure we didnt overstep the mark were unusually supportive. One of them was telling me how after only 10 years in the 'service' (!) he hated being on his side of the picket. And cant wait to retire in a years time. He complained about how the police are now target driven so when, for example, he used to be able to let people off for minor offences such as 'pissing up a wall', now they have to have 5 arrests or bookings per day.

Justice for Tube Cleaners-Tell the Bosses to Clean Up Their Act

The work that our cleaners do is essential to London and we want to show that it is about time they saw some of the billions of pounds that are made in this city every day.

Public Rally with speakers from all the disputes

Thursday 21 August, 1pm
Southwark Cathedral Gardens
(if raining, under the arches at Railway Approach-London Bridge Station)

Bring props from home such as mops, scrubbing brushes, buckets, vacuum cleaners etc. Aim to be as visible as possible.

Make T-shirts and placards bearing the above slogans of the campaign


This week London is facing a wave of strikes by London underground workers. In addition to track and maintenance workers, RMT cleaners, who are employed on private contracts by multinationals like ISS and GBM are also fighting for justice. Since the introduction of the PPP scheme, and the privatising of cleaning services, these companies make MILLIONS of pounds profit while the cleaners, some of the lowest paid people on the tube, are even worse off than before. Some are paid just £5.50 per hour!

We want to show the bosses that the cleaners are not fighting alone

United we Stand: Divided we Fall.

As usual media coverage of these strikes has been one-sided: we need the public to know the real reasons why the cleaners are on strike and why we stand shoulder to shoulder in solidarity with them, along with staff employed by Tube Lines and Eurostar, victimised individuals, and all the other workers who are striking this week.

Support the cleaners’ demands for:

· Bank holiday and sick pay
· A Living wage of £7.45, promised by Boris Johnson to SOME cleaners, to be extended to ALL.
· An end to reduction in service hours
· and an end to racist immigration policies which are used to intimidate & victimise cleaners

Contact Clare Solomon on 07958 034 181 or Robin Sivapalan on 07974 331 053 for more details.

See also SOAS's successful Justice for Cleaners campaign - interview with Consuela

Eurostar stunt

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