Rail cleaners to stage fresh strike in row over pay

Services across London and the South East are affected

Author: Alan Jones, PAPublished 2nd Mar 2022

Railway cleaners are to stage a fresh strike in a dispute over pay.

Members of the Rail, Maritime and Transport union (RMT) who clean trains and stations across London and the south east will walk out for 48 hours on March 11th.

The cleaners, employed by contractors Churchill, are campaigning for a wage rate of £15 an hour and to be made direct employees of the railways.

It will be the second bout of strike action, affecting Thameslink, Southern and Great Northern, Southeastern, Eurostar and HS1 services.

RMT general secretary Mick Lynch said:

"Churchill's treatment of cleaning staff who have risked their health and safety to work throughout the pandemic is a disgrace.

"Workers on low pay are much worse off now than 12 months ago.

"We will not stop campaigning or taking strike action until there is a just settlement and these outsourced workers are bought on to the railways as direct employees of the train operating companies."

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