Rail cleaners take the streets in biggest strike ever
Hundreds of railway cleaners today are taking the streets in what campaigners consider their biggest strike ever over wages.
The cleaners, the majority of whom is employed by professional cleaning company Churchill, work across the UK’s railway network – including on Thameslink, Southeastern, Eurostar and HS1 services.
“The rail industry make a lot of noise about how important they think cleaning is, but the reality is that they and the government turn a blind eye to gross exploitation by outsourcing companies like Churchill,” said RMT’s general secretary Mick Lynch.
“This is a company that is handing out dividends, while paying cleaners poverty wages and refusing to pay sick pay when they get ill.
“These unprecedented strikes show that members have had enough and won’t take it any longer.”