London braced for more strike chaos as railway union promises 48-hour walkout

Railway cleaners are to stage a fresh strike in a dispute over pay.

Members of the Rail, Maritime and Transport union (RMT) who clean trains and stations across London and the south east will walk out for 48 hours on March 11.

The cleaners, employed by contractors Churchill, are campaigning for a wage rate of £15 an hour and to be made direct employees of the railways.

It will be the second bout of strike action, affecting Thameslink, Southern and Great Northern, Southeastern, Eurostar and HS1 services.

RMT general secretary Mick Lynch said: “Churchill’s treatment of cleaning staff who have risked their health and safety to work throughout the pandemic is a disgrace."

“Workers on low pay are much worse off now than 12 months ago. We will not stop campaigning or taking strike action until there is a just settlement and these outsourced workers are bought on to the railways as direct employees of the train operating companies.”

The Tube was suspended during Tuesday’s rush hour, with only a few services running later in the day. Further disruption will follow on Thursday.