Frank Dobson has tabled an Early Day Motion in support of Eurostar cleaners

FORMER LABOUR Cabinet Minister Frank Dobson has tabled an Early Day Motion in the House of Commons in support of RMT cleaners working on the Eurostar contract at St Pancras International and their fight for pay and workplace justice.

The Commons motion has been placed on the order paper on the eve of the first of four more 24 hour strikes by the Eurostar cleaners employed by the Carlisle Group which will start at 5.30am tomorrow morning (Friday 23^rd October). There will be a noisy protest in support of the Eursostar cleaners, which will include solidarity visits from striking postal workers, between 8am and 10am Friday morning (23^rd October) outside St Pancras International.

In the EDM, Frank Dobson, whose Holborn and St Pancras constituency includes the Eurostar terminal, says:

"That this House is appalled that workers employed by Carlisle Group on the Eurostar trains contract are on poverty wages which are less than the London Living Wage; is dismayed that these cleaners are denied sick pay and pensions and there are constant complaints of bullying and harassment of staff and victimisation of trade union representatives; is deeply concerned that the Eurostar cleaners have complained that there is a racial undertone to the haranguing of the mainly black and ethnic minority workforce [and] believes these employment abuses are more akin to the Victorian age……"

Bob Crow, RMT General Secretary, said:

"The RMT Eurostar cleaners, alongside our brothers and sisters in the postal service, are a rock solid example of the determination of working people to fight back against attacks on their pay and working conditions and against the bullying culture that is rife in workplaces up and down the country.

"If Eurostar and the Carlisle Group thought that this group of low paid workers could be ground into the dirt then they have seriously misread the courage and determination of the RMT Eurostar cleaners."

RMT announces four more days of strike action by Eurostar cleaners

RAIL UNION RMT today announced a series of four 24 hour strikes by cleaners employed by the Carlisle Group on their Eurostar contract at St Pancras International in their fight for jobs and pay justice after the company failed to make any meaningful effort to resolve the dispute during extensive talks at arbitration service ACAS.

Following a rock-solid 48 hour strike in September a rolling programme of strike action by the Eurostar cleaners was suspended to allow for the ACAS talks to take place on four core issues:

• The fight for the Eurostar Cleaners to be paid the London Living Wage
• Opposition to redundancies which would increase the workload on staff already stretched to breaking point.
• A culture of bullying and harassment of staff on the Eurostar cleaning contract including the introduction of Orwellian finger-printing machines
• The victimisation of RMT representative Mohammed Yellow.

The four new strike dates are:

· 05:30 hours on Friday 23^rd October 2009 and 05:29 hours on Saturday 24^th October 2009.

· 05:30 hours on Sunday 25^th October 2009 and 05:29 hours on Monday 26^th October 2009.

· 05:30 hours on Friday 6^th November 2009 and 05:29 hours on Saturday 7^th November 2009.

· 05:30 hours on Sunday 8^th November 2009 and 05:29 hours on Monday 9^th November 2009.

Between 8am and 10am on this Fridays picket (23^rd October) there will be a mass protest with drums, horns and whistles in carnival style at St Pancras International and the strikers will be organising a picket exchange with postal workers who are due to strike the same day.

Bob Crow, RMT general secretary said:

"The Eurostar cleaners fight for pay and workplace justice has developed into an international campaign which has generated over 3000 emails in support from 75 countries all around the globe.

"The treatment of this multi-ethnic workforce on the prestige Eurostar rail service is nothing short of modern day slave labour and it's a matter of national shame that cleaners on one of the last remaining publicly owned sections of our transport system are being denied the London Living Wage.

"We will be joining forces and exchanging pickets with our brothers and sisters from the postal service on Friday to ram home the message that working people in this country are sick and tired of being bullied into taking a hit on their pay and conditions."