22 September 2022
Rail cleaners on Avanti West Coast services take further strike action for fair pay Why rail cleaners are striking on 23 September The people who clean Avanti West Coast’s trains have been forced to take further strike action on Friday as part of their long-running campaign to get a fair deal in the cost-ofliving crisis. RPI inflation is running at 12.3%, while as the ONS have said, effective inflation for those on low incomes is higher still. The cleaners who work on Avanti West Coast’s trains earn just £9.90 an hour. Over the last year, they’ve seen more than £1,280 wiped off the value of their wages. Although they work on Avanti’s trains, the cleaners are employed by French outsourcing giant Atalian Servest and sub-contracted by another French company, Alstom. Atalian are refusing to meet our members’ claim for a fair pay rise to meet the cost-ofliving crisis and for the introduction of a company sick pay scheme. Currently, if our members are ill they have to come into work or face not being paid. In a survey conducted earlier this year, before the cost-of-living crisis became even more acute, 91% of Atalian Servest cleaners said they were struggling to make ends meet, with 68% saying they were regularly struggling. 94% of Atalian cleaners said they had had to come into work while sick because they couldn’t afford not to.
The rail corporations profiting on distress Atalian, Alstom and Avanti are all profiteering on our members’ distress, siphoning dividends off to their corporate shareholders while pointing the finger at each other when the plight of our members is raised. Atalian say there are no funds in the contract to support a rise, Alstom and Avanti say that it’s not a matter for them as there’s no contractual relationship between them and the cleaners.
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Atalian Servest paid £15.8 million in dividends to their French owners in 2020 and 2021. Alstom UK paid a dividend of £58 million to their French parent last year. Avanti, the company currently failing to run trains on the West Coast paid £11.5 million in dividends to their parent company, First Rail.
Political support for the cleaners is growing but the government is backing the rail profiteers The Metro Mayors of the West Midlands and Greater Manchester City Regions, Andy Street and Andy Burnham, have both written to Avanti West Coast urging them to resolve the dispute. On 5th April this year, 9 local MPs from across the West Coast area wrote to the directors of Avanti, Alstom and Atalian urging them to meet our members’ claim. So far, these big corporations have done nothing, preferring to keep the money rolling to their shareholders. The government is backing the companies, saying that it has no role in the dispute, while continuing to pay Avanti’s revenue costs as long as they put plans in place to mitigate the impact of the strike action. The government is bankrolling and running these contracts but would rather finance strike breaking than see a fair deal for cleaners. That’s why our members have no other choice but to take further strike action on 23 September.
Please support the strike Support our picket lines: • • • • • • • • •
CREWE - 08.30 till 13.00 meet top of the “horse landing” near Crewe Station main entrance CARLISLE - 08.30 - 13.00 - Meet outside the front of Carlisle Citadel Station PRESTON - 10.00 - 13.00 - Meet at the top of the approach to Preston Station GLASGOW CENTRAL - 10.00 - 12.00 - Meet at the front - Main Entrance to Glasgow Central Station WOLVERHAMPTON OXLEY - 19.00 - 21.30 - Meet at the Entrance to Alstom’s Oxley TrainCare Depot, off Jones Road, Wolverhampton WV10 6JQ LIVERPOOL EDGE HILL - 21.00 - 22.30 - Meet Outside the entrance to Alstom’s Edgehill Traincare Depot, Liverpool MANCHESTER PICCADILLY - 08.00 - 12.00 - Meet at the bottom of Station Approach To Manchester Piccadilly. MANCHESTER LONGSIGHT - 20.00 - 22.00 - Meet Near the entrance to Alstom’s Manchester Longsight TrainCare Depot BIRMINGHAM NEW STREET - 09.00 - 12.00 - Meet Outside the Navigation Street
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Entrance to Birmingham New Street Station LONDON EUSTON - 09.00 - 13.00 Meet at the Eversholt Street entrance to London Euston Station
Write to the Directors of the three companies involved: Atalian Servest - Daniel Dickoson, Chief Executive Officer, daniel.dickson@atalianservest.com Alstom, Nicholas Crossfield, Managing Director nicholas.crossfield@alstom.com Avanti West Coast, Steve Montgomery, Managing Director, FirstRail, Steve.Montgomery@firstrail.com
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