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.