Cleaners want end to privatisation

The RMT transport union is calling on London mayor Sadiq Khan to bring the London Underground cleaning contract back in-house after a report exposed widespread discrimination faced by the 2,000 workers who keep the capital’s tube system clean.

The report, Dirty work: ABM and the outsourcing of London’s underground cleaners, was released by the union last month with the support of MPs.

It alleges that ABM, the US-owned corporate giant which won the London Underground cleaning contract three years ago, is engaged in widespread discrimination against cleaning workers and is putting profit before passengers. Khan awarded the multi-million-pound five-year cleaning contract, employing 2,000 cleaners, to the company in 2017. 


The report was published to coincide with the mayor’s consultation on his policies for his next term, and MPs also tabled a motion in Parliament supporting the RMT’s call for tube and London Overground cleaning to be taken in-house and into public ownership.


With evidence drawn from a survey of ABM cleaners, the study found that more than one in three cleaners said they had been treated unfairly at work or by their employer because of a characteristic they have (such as race, religion, gender, age or sexual orientation). 


A further 68% said that they sometimes, or regularly, struggle to make ends meet. And the same proportion again said they believed their employer put profits before working conditions or passenger concerns.


https://www.rmt.org.uk/news/publications/dirty-work-abm-and-the-outsourcing-of-londons-underground