ECJ EUROPEAN Cleaning Journal

The first-ever national strike staged by cleaners who belong to the Royal Maritime and Transport union is due to take place this month.

More than 1,000 RMT-enrolled cleaners voted for industrial action in the latest round of ballots. This means cleaners currently contracted out by companies such as Churchill, Atalian Servest and Mitie are likely to stage a walk-out before Christmas.

They join Royal Mail workers, nurses and other rail staff who have also announced strike action in recent days. The cleaners are demanding £15 an hour, company sick pay, decent holidays and good pensions from their contractors.

The union's NEC will decide this week on which days the strike action will take place. RMT general secretary Mick Lynch claims Network Rail has failed to improve on its offer after two weeks' of negotiations. And he says the UK government is blocking the deal.

"This is an historic result and I congratulate cleaner members across the transport network," he said.

"It is scandalous that multi-million pound companies are making profits hand over fist while not paying cleaners properly.

"RMT will fight every step of the way to end the super-exploitation of contracted out cleaners and will not rest until these greedy companies pay up."