Workers' Liberty

After several faltering starts, the strike for the London Living Wage for cleaners is planned to go ahead again. RMT haS not been joined by the T&G in these plans, so strong organisation will be even more vital than usual. There is a lot of work to do over the next weeks: joining cleaners up to the union, making sure their membership details are accurate, informing them of the issues. Staff in other grades can help by talking to cleaners. The union will start balloting members by the end of May.

As well as the usual difficulties of organising strikes, there are a couple of issues which will make this especially tough. Cleaning companies are already checking nationaL insurance numbers as a way of weeding out 'illegal working'. With a ballot looming, employers may step this up and the RMT might find itself with fewer members than it needs to organise an effective strike. The union really needs to be ready to challenge this head-on if it happens, alongside the other work involved in building the strike. We also need to look into ways of involving agency staff. Many permanent staff have already been replaced by agency and this could threaten to undermine the strength of the union's action.