Cleaners

Many grades in many locations are suffering under the destaffing over recent years, or are facing imminent cuts to jobs.

The unions - primarily RMT - are fighting back on several fronts. RMT has scored some successes, including on Bakerloo South stations groups and the cleaning contractor, ABM.

Cleaners have scored a big win, with contractor ABM backing down from its proposal to cut the workforce by a third.
They would probably like us to believe that they have seen the error of their ways and revisited their sums, but we prefer to think that RMT's noisy preparations for battle pushed them back.
ABM still plans to employ 150 fewer cleaners than it promised in its contract bid, and it still denies those cleaners civilised conditions and pay rates, so let's used the momentum from this victory to push for more.

Scientific reports confirming the shockingly bad quality of air on London Underground are becoming an annual tradition.

The latest report, from the Committee on the Medical Effects of Air Pollutants, reported last week that the air on the platforms at Hampstead was around 31 times more polluted than the average in London, taken from a roadside monitoring point.

The Mayor's much-vaunted 'fares freeze' only applies to some fares, so passengers using Travelcards have once again been hit with a new year increase (or 'change', as TfL's website euphemistically calls it) of an average 3.1%.

That's bad news for our passengers, but it is also bad news for some of our workmates. Cleaners are not only paid less than LUL staff but also do not get a staff pass. So they have started the new year with more money going out and the same amount coming in.

Despite promising cleaners warm winter fleeces, ABM has failed to deliver in many places.

This means cleaners are working in the cold without proper uniform.

LU’s own uniform delivery services is also in a rather chaotic condition, meaning directly-employed and outsourced staff may be united by cold this winter.

If the situation continues, Tubeworker feels some impromptu sit-ins in mess rooms coming on...

ABM, always on the lookout to feather its financial nest, reckons it can carry out the cleaning contract with significantly fewer cleaners than it currently has.

As the Tory government's shambolic Brexit negotiations continue, there's ongoing uncertainty for migrant workers, both EU and non-EU, about how Britain's immigration laws might be reformed.

We already know that cleaning contractors use immigration controls to undermine workers' organisation; they have targeted union reps in ISS and shopped them to border police in the past.

We've reported previously about the absolute shambles that is ABM's QR code sign-on system.

The situation has not improved. RMT has written to ABM to insist that the system be scrapped, as it's clearly not working and is making life difficult for cleaners.

It's time to kick agencies like AGS People and Premier Work Services off the job, and ensure direct employment for all cleaners.

As we've previously reported, ABM are carrying out their commitment to reduce the amount of agency labour on their contract in the least fair and transparent way imaginable. Rather than transferring agency cleaners onto direct contracts on the basis of how long they've been on the job, lists are going round that seem to be based on who managers and supervisors want to give the jobs to.

The major concession RMT won when the LU cleaning contracts were consolidated and given to ABM was a commitment to reduce the use of agency labour to 5%. Previously, up to 50% of cleaners in some locations were not employed directly by Interserve, ISS, or Vinci, but were sub-contracted to agencies such as AGS People.