Hundreds of train cleaners are on a one-day strike today (Wednesday) (Feb 23) in a fight for higher pay.

The staff, who work for outsourcing company Churchill which cleans trains and stations for companies like Southeastern, Eurostar and the HS1 services across Kent, are also staging a protest rally outside Parliament.

Mick Lynch, the General Secretary of rail union RMT, said: “The rail industry make a lot of noise about how important they think cleaning is but the reality is that they, and the government, turn a blind eye to gross exploitation by outsourcing companies like Churchill.

"This is a company that is handing out dividends while paying cleaners poverty wages and refusing to pay sick pay when they get ill. These unprecedented strikes show that members have had enough and won’t take it any longer."

He added: "The government needs to wake up and listen to our members. The Prime Minister was right when he said cleaners do an ‘extraordinary job’ but, as so often, it’s just so much empty bluster. His government has done nothing but freeze pay on the railways while the cost of living crisis spirals out of control. Our demonstration outside Parliament will let MPs know that the days when cleaners could be ignored are over.”

Rail cleaners, who have worked throughout the Covid-19 crisis, are to gather opposite Old Palace Yard at 10.45am where they will be joined by MPs and other supporters.

The union says the workers mostly earn either the national minimum wage of £8.91 an hour or the living wage of £9.50. Other rail companies which may be affected by the walk-out include Thameslink, Southern and Great Northern.

Strike vote