MORE THAN 120 RMT cleaners working for OCS on its Eurostar contract will
strike for 24 hours from 06:00 on Bank Holiday Monday, August 25, in their
campaign to end poverty pay and win decent working conditions.
The cleaners, whose hourly pay is more than £1 an hour below the London
Living Wage, returned a 100 per cent vote for action and will not book on for
shifts that commence between 06:00 on Monday August 25 and 05:59 on Tuesday
August 26.
“Eurostar trades on its ethical reputation and claims to tread lightly on
the planet, yet it seems happy for OCS to stamp all over the people who keep
their trains and stations clean,” RMT general secretary Bob Crow said today.
“OCS are already paying poverty wages and the paltry 25p an hour they have
offered our members is well below inflation and would drag their living
standards down even further.
“Neither OCS nor Eurostar can be in any doubt about how angry our members
are, because not one vote was cast against taking strike action, and dozens
more cleaners signed up to the union since the ballot began.
“No-one living in or around London can live on £6.37 an hour, but that is
what OCS pays, and there is not a penny extra for overtime or bank holidays.
“That alone is a disgrace, but on top of that there is no pension, no sick
pay and only the bare minimum legal holiday entitlement
“It would be great if people using Eurostar’s services over the Bank Holiday
could let the company know that it has a moral duty to stop this shameful
exploitation.
“OCS is raking it in on the backs of our members’ work and Eurostar has
never had it so good, so there is no excuse for either of them,” Bob Crow said.
