Cleaners to be balloted on train strike - August 2012

[whole diary]

[Chris from Nailsea]

From ITV News:

First Great Western provide rail services across the West Country. Credit: ITV West

Workers who clean First Great Western trains will be balloted on whether to go on strike.

More than 100 members of the Rail Maritime and Transport union will vote in the next few weeks on whether to launch a campaign of industrial action after it was alleged that a union official was victimised.

The union said the move followed the suspension of a union rep by a contractor at the rail operator.

[EBrown]

From the RMT^▸ (National Union of Rail, Maritime & Transport Workers).

RAIL UNION RMT said today that it will begin balloting crew working on the Mitie contract on First Great Western for both strike action and action short of a strike over the blatant victimisation of union representative Sharon Petrie.
The ballot, of more than a hundred staff ranging from on-train cleaners to the crew emptying the sewage tanks, will kick off on Tuesday 28th August 2012 and the ballot will close on Friday 7th September 2012.

RMT Representative Sharon Petrie was suspended by Mitie after baseless and unsubstantiated allegations were made against her. These allegations made against Sharon include encouraging staff to put in collective grievances over their treatment in the workplace which is nothing more than the core business of a union rep proving conclusively that she is being victimised for carrying out the most fundamental union activities.

RMT General Secretary Bob Crow said:

^The allegations made against our representative Sharon Petrie are unfounded, spurious and discriminatory and it is crystal clear that she is being targeted due to her trade union activities.

^Sharon has shown enormous courage in the past by standing up to the union-bashing outfit Mitie over pay problems and staff welfare; she has also assisted her colleagues with getting warm clothing for the winter months, helped to alleviate excess work expectations and always tried to achieve fairness at work. Sharon has only ever sought to get the best for all the staff and has been a huge asset to RMT when standing up to Mitie on many issues and that is why they have now resorted to victimising her.

^RMT will not stand by while our reps are attacked in this fashion and we are calling for a strong yes vote for action as we take Sharon Petrie^s campaign for justice forwards.^


ENDS

[Btline]

Will we notice the difference if the cleaners go on strike?

The trains are always filthy and full of rubbish.

Edit: I withdraw this post.

[Andrew1939 from West Oxon]

Surely the action of a responsible employeee representative organisation should in such circumstances be to take the employer to court. It is completely irresponsible to to have a go at the public but Bob Crow's outfit's attitude seems to be to threaten a strike at every incident that it is unhappy with. I would not call the RMT^▸ (National Union of Rail, Maritime & Transport Workers) a union as it seems to be very ununited. If the current government is going to reduce the cost of running Britain's railways to nearer that that has been publicised as being costs in Europe, there will have to be a lot of cuts in the use of labour on the railways in future years so I imagine the threats of strike action in the rail industry are likley to increase in the future. I think I may have set the cat amongst the pigeons with a statement like this but government and the rail industry seems to always shy away from dealing with these matters for fear of the unions.

[onthecushions]

A few thoughts:

1. Rubbish on trains is probably deposited by passengers not cleaners.

2. Strikes aren't popular with workers - they lose pay and are victimised by management on return.

3. Shop stewards/reps are usually elected and do low level conciliation - easing operation when management co-operates.

4. The "Servant Problem" turned out to be largely Madam's fault.

5. Perhaps a passengers' "jury" should decide on the dispute between Mitie (what does the acronymn stand for) and its staff.

OTC

[Chris from Nailsea]

... Mitie (what does the acronymn stand for)

MITIE stands for Management Incentive Through Investment Equity, according to Wikipedia. 

[Gordon the Blue Engine]

Will we notice the difference if the cleaners go on strike?

The trains are always filthy and full of rubbish.

Btline, in the past I've supported you against others who have criticised your posting style, but for the life of me I can't see why you come out with comments like this.  I worked at 2 London carriage depots (as we called them then), and in my experience carriage cleaners (properly supervised) generally do a difficult job well.  You wouldn't believe what they have to deal with, particulalry in sleeping cars.

In my experience FGW^▸ (First Great Western) trains start the day clean and rubbish-free.  You can't blame the cleaners for what happens after that.

[JayMac]

MITIE stands for Management Incentive Through Investment Equity, according to Wikipedia. 

What?? That sounds like something George Orwell would've dreamed up. Doublethink ^ la 1984.

[Btline]

Fair enough, I withdraw the comment. I posted too quickly without thinking.

[bobm]

In my experience FGW^▸ (First Great Western) trains start the day clean and rubbish-free.  You can't blame the cleaners for what happens after that.

The cleaners do a good job during the day too.  I was on the 10:00 London Paddington to Paignton today and a travelling cleaner got on at Taunton.  By the time I got off at Teignmouth he had amassed five large bags of rubbish ready to offload.  I am not sure if that was just from the journey from Paddington or the train's previous journey from Plymouth as well.

I always try to take my rubbish to the bins at the vestibule ends but they are not very big and quickly fill up.

[JayMac]

My detritus goes in the bins on board, or failing that I take it with me and dispose at the earliest opportunity.

It's good to see that Network Rail and TOC^▸ (Train Operating Company) station managers have woken up to the fact that stations need bins. New clear perspex ones are popping up across the network as well as bin lids that hold clear polythene bags.

Has it really taken the rail industry this long to come up with a solution that satisfies the security issues regarding bins?

Saying that, when was a bomb last planted in a bin anywhere in the UK^▸ (United Kingdom)? And if the issue was so acute why did bins not disappear from our High Streets?

[Btline]

Virgin Trains have good cleaners, who go through the train frequently with a bin liner. It's what's needed on InterCity trains.
Between New Street and Euston, they'll pass through 3 times.
Never had this on FGW^▸ (First Great Western).

I don't like it when newspapers are binned - except at the END of the day (pay attention LM^▸ (London Midland - recent franchise)); or in the case of the Metro, at noon (as the Standard will be available for evening commuters)

[paul7575]

Has it really taken the rail industry this long to come up with a solution that satisfies the security issues regarding bins?

Saying that, when was a bomb last planted in a bin anywhere in the UK^▸ (United Kingdom)? And if the issue was so acute why did bins not disappear from our High Streets?

I think it is because going back to the 1970s type of threat,  the danger deemed to be posed by bins at railway stations, where people congregate in numbers while waiting for trains, was always considered higher than random bins on the street.  Maybe statistical records are kept.

I don't think it is just the rail industry that makes the decisions though, otherwise why would Southampton have had clear polythene rubbish sack holders for quite a while, but Winchester never did for a long time?  Same TOC^▸ (Train Operating Company), same line, but perhaps some other organisation thinks the long term threat at Winchester is different to that at Southampton?

But the typical bins on high streets have also been changed in design, so that any blast is directed upwards.

Paul

[Southern Stag]

Virgin Trains have good cleaners, who go through the train frequently with a bin liner. It's what's needed on InterCity trains.
Between New Street and Euston, they'll pass through 3 times.
Never had this on FGW^▸ (First Great Western).

Travelling cleaners usually board West of England services between Plymouth and Exeter and get rid of all the rubbish. Quite often see them get on between Bristol and Westbury on services down that way.

[Btline]

Never seen any on the Cotswold line. Shocking when you consider that some journeys are 3 hrs on filthy Thames Turbos.