Northern Line cleaners get organised

ISS cleaners on the Northern line have been messed around for months.

Many have no fixed station, don't know where they'll be working from one day to the next. They are forced to work on stations where they haven't been familiarised. They are losing out on the stability (as well as opportunity to get organised!) that having a regular station would provide.

This is a way of making fewer and fewer cleaners do more and more work. From Balham to Morden, there is only one cleaner at a time. At central London stations, there is usually one cleaner, where there used to be four or five. Cleaners can't cope with the increase of work and stress this brings. Their supervisors have been known to use threats to force them to travel without tickets between stations on their shifts.

Some cleaners have resisted this regime, but so far it has been on a very individual basis. In the next month, there will hopefully be a meeting for northern line cleaners to work out their options for resisting as a whole. Station staff, and station reps, need to be ready to give solidarity as cleaners start to resist and fight to be treated with dignity.