RMT members voted by a margin of 13 to one to take action in their campaign to win a minimum pay rate that matches the London living wage of at least £7.05 an hour.

"This is meant to be the season of goodwill, but at OCS the top-dog gets a £13,000 rise, yet the people out there doing the dirty work are offered a 20p insult," RMT general secretary Bob Crow said today.

"They are even expecting the very lowest paid - people on £5.50 an hour - to pay for the few extra coppers they are being offered by giving up £68 in back-pay.

"That may not sound a lot, but when your basic is worth less than the boss's pay rise, having £68 taken from the money you are owed adds insult to injury.

"As Christmas approaches Eurostar should think very hard about the message they are sending out by tolerating such behaviour from contractors who wouldn't be out of place in a Dickens novel.

"Eurostar has a moral obligation to ensure that the people who clean their trains and stations are paid a decent rate for the dirty and often difficult work they do for their passengers.

"As for OCS, a company that spends money sponsoring a cricket stand at the Oval while paying its staff poverty wages has truly got its priorities wrong," Bob Crow said.