Catering supply staff working for DHL on the Avanti West Coast contract struck over pay from 5-6 July. An RMT statement said: "They have not been offered a pay rise despite the cost-of-living crisis and rising inflation. DHL has pleaded poverty claiming they cannot afford a rise despite the fact its global business was worth £81bn last year."
There have been several rounds of action by outsourced workers across the railway over the last two years, including strikes by cleaners across contracts on multiple TOCs. Outsourced track protection workers on London Underground have also recently held a demonstration at City Hall, with outsourced cleaners and security staff on the Docklands Light Railway also striking recently.
The union needs an integrated national strategy for outsourced workers' fights. Although separate disputes have to be fought on their own logic (i.e., it would be wrong to tell other workers to wait to strike if they are ready to do so and could do so effectively), there are fundamental issues common to all disputes. The union could organise a special national conference of outsourced workers as an adjunct of its Industrial Organising Conferences to discuss joint campaigning.
The central demands must be: real living wages and full sick pay for all, and direct employment!