DLR cleaners to go on strike on New Year’s Eve

Cleaners who work on the Dockland Light Railway (DLR) line have said they will strike tomorrow and on New Year’s Eve over pay and working conditions.

The cleaners work for services company ISS and are contracted to clean line that runs between Lewisham and Bank, as well as a route that runs to Woolwich Arsenal.

RMT, the union representing the workers, said they were taking strike action taking strike action “over pay, imposed rosters and attacks on working conditions”.

Across the national railway, over 1,000 contracted out cleaners will also take strike action on December 31 in the first national strike of its kind.

Cleaners working for the likes of Atalian Servest and Churchill are demanding £15 an hour, company sick pay, decent holidays and good pensions from contractors who are raking in profits worth millions of pounds. 

RMT general secretary Mick Lynch said: “This is the first time cleaners have been taken out on strike across the rail network. 

“These multimillion pound companies who super exploit workers who were rightly hailed as heroes during the pandemic, should be removed from operating in Britain, if they do not come to a negotiated settlement on our members’ modest demands. 

“It is a national disgrace that many languish on the minimum wage, with no company sick or holiday pay while doing such an important job of keeping our stations and trains clean.”

ISS has been contacted for comment.

Pictured top: DLR train at Lewisham station (Picture: srfurley/Wikimedia Commons)