RMT National Cleaners' Charter

NATIONAL CLEANERS’ CHARTER

Cleaners on the Railway deserve:

A pay rise to £15 an hour now

An end to outsourcing and the profiteering on cleaning

A proper sick pay scheme that kicks in from day one

Annual pay increases and proper collective bargaining arrangements

A decent pension

Travel facilities equivalent to those of other rail workers

A career path that rewards experience

Annual leave provision equivalent to other rail workers

A reduction in working hours without loss of pay

Additional payments for late night or weekend work

Clean and hygienic mess rooms

Regular provision of uniform and full PPE

A message from RMT’s General Secretary

For decades cleaners have been looked down on and exploited by rail companies and employers across the economy. Cleaning has been outsourced to private companies because it was thought they were ‘non-core’, or inessential.

The Covid pandemic has blown that myth to bits, showing cleaners to be the essential keyworkers they are.

During the pandemic, cleaning was rightly recognised as essential and more and more people realise that the way they are treated is a scandal.

It’s shameful that cleaners have such low pay that they struggle to make ends meet even before the cost-of-living crisis wiped thousands of pounds off the value of your wages.

Shameful that cleaners don’t get sick pay and have to come into work while ill in order to get by.

Now the growing cost of living crisis has wiped thousands off the value of your pay.

Cleaners all over the railway are angry and they’re right to be. It’s time for a change.

The millionaires and billionaires who get rich off our railways and your work, want to turn the clock back and put you back in your box. They’re frightened of you and your power.

All over our railways RMT cleaners are using their collective strength through our union to demand better. Where negotiations aren’t working, we’re balloting our cleaning grades for strike action to force your employers to treat you better.

The RMT National Cleaners’ Charter sets out our vision and lays out our demands for cleaning grades.

We will use it to win political support for its demands and we’ll work to get its principles embedded in agreements with our employers.

But we also need members to use it to recruit among traincrew. The more cleaners we represent, the greater will be our bargaining power as our employers will know that when we speak, we speak for you.

Mick Lynch RMT General Secretary

The cleaners’ charter

A pay rise to £15 an hour now

The scandal of low pay among cleaners must be ended. 63% of cleaners reported they were struggling to make ends meet before the pandemic. Now rising prices are wiping thousands of pounds off the value of cleaners’ pay. Basic pay should be lifted to £15 an hour now.

An end to outsourcing and the pro

fi

teering on cleaning

80% of cleaners on the railways are outsourced to private companies who hold down pay and conditions to extract profits on their contracts. Outsourcing is a scourge that must be driven out of the railways and all cleaners should be employed directly on the same terms and conditions as other rail workers.

A proper sick pay scheme that kicks in from day one

The pandemic highlighted that one of the ways outsourcing companies make their money is by not paying ick pay. 69% of cleaners reported they went into work while sick during the pandemic because they couldn’t afford not to work. Cleaners need a proper sick pay scheme that kicks in on the first day of sickness.

Annual pay increases and proper collective bargaining arrangements

Because they are outsourced, cleaners’ pay is negotiated separately in arrangements that vary from company to company in a patchwork of contracts. Collective bargaining should be conducted through a national bargaining structure that is integrated with that of other rail workers.

A decent pension

Again, because they are outsourced, cleaners are denied a decent pension in retirement while outsourcing companies profiteer by winning contracts by reducing the cost of employing cleaners. This is a disgrace that should be ended and all cleaners should have a proper pension.

Travel facilities equivalent to those of other rail workers

Cleaners should receive free travel to and from work on the network. No transport workers should have to pay for train travel to and from work or in their leisure time anywhere on the network. The cost of train operating companies and other transport authorities would be negligible.

A career path that rewards experience and enables progression

Cleaning work used to be an integral part of the rail network and progression into other roles was possible for those who wanted it. Now outsourcing has meant that cleaners are treated like a lower tier of worker. Cleaners should have access to career progression and training as well as being integrated into the wider transport workforce.

A reduction in working hours without loss of pay

Working hours should be reduced to 35 hours without loss of earnings.

Annual leave provision equivalent to other rail workers

RMT policy is that no cleaning member should have inferior holiday entitlement to any other rail worker.

Additional payments for late night or weekend work

The health risks of working unsocial hours are well established yet cleaners regularly have to do this without adequate recompense. Unsocial hours payments should be offered as compensation for weekend, bank holiday or night working.

Clean and hygienic mess rooms

Employers have a legal duty to provide adequate facilities for employees. This means that eating facilities should be kept clean and staff should be able to prepare r buy a hot drink. Where hot food cannot be obtained, employers should provide the means for workers to heat up their own food. Mess rooms must be kept clean and hygienic for workers.

Regular provision of uniform and full PPE

Far too often, cleaning companies try to hold down costs by failing to provide uniforms or proper PPE. During the pandemic, more than a third of cleaners said they were not confident they were getting the right PPE for the job.

RMT – A fighting industrial union for cleaners

For the outsourcing fat cats who employ the majority of cleaners, the Covid pandemic has been a chance to grow their business, make bigger profits and award higher Executive pay packets. For you the Covid and cost of living crises have meant more risk, more work and less pay. Everywhere the rich are growing richer and the rest of us get poorer. It’s time for working people to rise up and fight back. Demand better and organise to win better.

RMT is an industry union. We organise all grades in the rail network and on metro systems. We are organising cleaners and they are fighting for justice alongside their sisters and brothers in the rest of the rail network.

In Wales, RMT recently won the insourcing of cleaners on the Wales and Borders franchise, following earlier success in Scotland.

On Merseyside, cleaners took strike action and won an increase that took their pay to the Real Living Wage.

Striking Churchill cleaners on Govia Thameslink Railways won the Real Living Wage as part of their fight for fair pay.

Cleaners are organising and delivering strike action on a scale never seen before on our railways.

JOIN RMT AND SIGN UP YOUR COLLEAGUES

The more of us there are the more power you have.

If you’re not already an RMT member now’s the time to join. If your workmates are not in the union, let them know about RMT’s campaign for justice for cleaners.

JOIN HERE: