Over 700 RMT members working for four cleaning subcontractors on London Underground will begin their second round of strike action at 18:50 tonight until 18.49 Thursday to demand the London living wage.

After voting to strike by a landslide 125-one margin, RMT cleaners working for ISS, ITS, ICS and GBM also took 24-hour action on June 26.

Over 30 Tory, Lib Dem and Labour MPs, including two former transport ministers Glenda Jackson and Karen Buck, have so far signed signing a Commons motion supporting the cleaners, condemning the employers and urging the mayor to ensure that contract cleaners are paid the London living wage (text and list below).

RMT general secretary Bob Crow said that all contracts held by the failed Metronet consortium have now passed to Transport for London and demanded that TfL act now to halt the scandalous practice of paying cleaners just £5.50 per hour.

“London mayor Boris Johnson has stated that all temporary and contracted GLA staff should be paid at least the living wage as the contracts come up for renewal (see below) and Tubelines has indicated that it would be willing to enter negotiations on the issue.

“However, three cleaning companies with contracts with Metronet are currently in talks with TfL right now and paying the London living wage isn’t even on the agenda.

“Despite massive intimidation of our members’, RMT has pledged complete support for the Tube cleaners' campaign for a living wage, and the employers should now get around the table with us to negotiate a living wage, Bob Crow said.

Ends

Notes to editors: The cleaners' demands also include 28 days' holiday, sick pay, decent pensions and travel facilities, and an end to the barbaric practice of 'third-party sackings' in which cleaners can be dismissed, with no disciplinary hearing or right of appeal, at the behest parties other than the employer - a device used to get rid of union activists.

From last week's Mayor's Question Time: London Living Wage

Question No: 1205 / 2008

John Biggs: Will you retain the commission and will you support the living wage, including the annual, independent, assessment of its appropriate value? If so, will you ensure all GLA staff are covered by it and will you press for its wider adoption in London?

Mayor: Yes. I will shortly be announcing the 2008 living wage rate. All direct employees of the GLA Group are paid at least the living wage and as contracts are renewed I will seek to ensure that our temporary and contracted staff are as well. All employers in London should be encouraged to pay at least the Living Wage and I will be encouraging them to do so.

CONDITIONS FOR CLEANERS EMPLOYED ON LONDON UNDERGROUND

Early Day Motion 1872 Tabled by John McDonnell and signed by 31 MPs so far

"That this House fully supports the 700 cleaners on London Underground who are members of the RMT union, who have voted by a margin of 125-to-one to take strike action for the London living wage and improved working conditions, including decent sick pay, pensions, holiday entitlement and travel facilities; notes that the action also seeks to end the disgraceful practice of third-party sackings in which cleaners can be dismissed, with no disciplinary hearing or right of appeal, at the behest of parties other than the employer; is appalled that these vulnerable workers who do such an essential job for London must get by on rates of pay of little more than £5.50 an hour; believes that such exploitation brings shame on London as it prepares for the 2012 Olympics; further notes that the cleaners are employed by contractors ISS, ITS, ICS and GBM who are subcontracted to Metronet and Tube Lines to undertake cleaning for London Underground; therefore believes that Transport for London (TfL) has a clear responsibility to assist in resolving this dispute; calls on the Mayor of London to honour the pledge of the previous Mayor that cleaners on Metronet contracts would receive the London living wage as soon as they passed under TfL control, and to bring pressure on Tube Lines also to pay the living wage; condemns the intimidation of cleaners by employers in this dispute; and urges cleaning bosses instead to direct their energies to reaching a just, negotiated statement."

See also:

Tube cleaners' strike under way

BBC News: 2 July 2008

Nine London MPs have backed the strike

A 48-hour strike is under way by cleaners on the London Underground in a row over pay and conditions.

More than 700 cleaners employed by four sub-contractors walked out at 1850 BST on Tuesday. The strike follows a 24-hour stoppage last week.

The members of the Rail Maritime and Transport (RMT) Union want hourly rates to be raised from £5.50 to £7.20 plus improved holidays and pensions.

Transport for London (TfL) called the strike action "completely unnecessary".

The union wants the cleaners' pay to be set at £7.20 an hour, which is the London living wage.

This figure is recommended by the Greater London Authority, and is a minimum hourly rate for a full-time employee to cover the basic costs of living in London.

'Solidly supported'

A TfL spokesman said: "Following the transfer of Metro net to TfL, we will be working with Metronet and its sub-contractors to ensure that they pay their employees who work on the Tube the London living wage.

"We have already reassured all interested parties, notably the trade unions, that we are taking this commitment forward."

But RMT leader Bob Crow said negotiations had hardly begun.

He said three cleaning companies with contracts with Metronet are currently in talks with TfL and "paying the London living wage isn't even on the agenda".

A RMT spokesman said: "We expect the strike to be solidly supported as the last one was."

Last month, 24 London MPs backed an early day motion tabled by Hayes and Harlington MP John McDonnell supporting the cleaners.