Campaigning for better pay
From RMT General Secretary Bob Crow
I have received reports that agency workers employed by Trainpeople.co.uk engaged on Grand Central Railways and London Underground’s Bakerloo Line contracts have not been paid for the second month running and have been excluded from the Agency Worker Regulations by Trainpeople.co.uk, who are using the Swedish derogation contract model to employ our members.
That we note the correspondence on file regarding Harmonisation.
Referring to decision GWW 26th April 2012 (Rates of Pay & Conditions of Service 2012 - Thales) where our members are to be balloted for Industrial Action, we instruct the General Secretary to commence an immediate ballot our affected members for strike action and action short of a strike on "Rates of Pay and Conditions of Service 2012" and "Harmonisation of Terms & Conditions", with a strong recommendation to vote YES on both questions. This ballot is to be undertaken in the minimum amount of time allowed to us by law.
No worker should be expected to live on an income of less than the London Living Wage
We note the report from our Regional Organiser. While we may be close to securing an acceptable offer on Olympic Reward and Recognition, we are appalled by Carlisle’s refusal to pay our cleaning and security members the London Living Wage. No worker should be expected to live on an income of less than the LLW, an amount calculated to meet only the ‘minimum acceptable quality of life’, currently set at only £8.30 per hour.
We note that the ballot result was as follows:
Are you prepared to take strike action?
TRANSPORT UNION RMT said this morning that support from cleaners for a 48 hour strike against poverty pay and the victimisation of a colleague on the Tyne and Wear Metro, which started last night, is rock solid with pickets and protesters out in force at key points.
RMT demands a decent living wage for Cubic staff
RMT has been negotiating with Cubic Transportation for decent pay and conditions, including an Olympic bonus.
We are demanding: PAY EQUALITY, with a decent rate of pay for all staff and an end to individual pay rates – people doing the same job deserve the same pay; a substantial OLYMPIC BONUS for all staff; FREE TRANSPORT on London Underground, and a SHORTER WORKING WEEK for all staff to work the same hours with no loss of pay.
The TUC is organising a mass demonstration in London under the banner of “A future that works” on October 20th this year. RMT will be participating fully in this mobilization, as part of our wider strategy of opposing the cuts.
It is essential that the RMT contingent is as large as possible in order to demonstrate the seriousness of our opposition to Government plans to slash jobs, pay, terms and conditions, employment rights, and pensions alongside the services we all use.
In its recent budget, the government raised the minimum wage for over 21 year olds in line with inflation, but froze the minimum wage for under 21 year olds. The minimum wage is currently at £6.19 an hour for people aged over 21, compared to £4.98 for under 21 year olds.
There is no evidence to support the government’s argument that this will help to get young people into work. Instead, this unjust measure will only serve to widen the increasing intergenerational inequality that we are seeing in Britain, and force hundreds of thousands of young people further into poverty.
That we note the offer from CBS Outdoor of a 1.5% pay rise and a £500 Olympics bonus.
We support our Regional Organiser’s view that this offer is derisory and comes nowhere near meeting our aspirations. We therefore instruct the General Secretary to:
Talks have recently been held between the RMT and Sodexo. The company have committed to agree a voluntary recognition deal with the RMT if over 50% of Sodexo workers join the union. The RMT is the only union campaigning for Sodexo canteen workers.