Metro cleaners stage week-long strike

Cleaners working for Churchill on the Tyne and Wear Metro will walk out for seven days from 10.30pm on Friday in their long-running dispute for fair pay.

It coincides with a massive anti-cuts march and rally in Newcastle on Saturday.

Meanwhile RMT members employed by Churchill and working at Arriva Trains Wales received ballot papers today for industrial action as they fight for better pay and conditions.

General secretary Bob Crow said the Metro workers had "shown guts and determination through this long and hard campaign" which was now one of the longest-running current disputes.

"We now ratchet up the action and will be back on the picket lines and out on the streets geared up for a victory we know is within our grasp as we continue to pull in top-level political support and the backing of the public."

He added: "This dispute is a mirror-image of all that is wrong in this country with greedy company bosses on one side and low-paid cleaners providing essential public services on the other - forced to strike.

"Many months on from the start of this campaign it remains a scandal that the regional passenger organisation and the operating company have still not lifted a finger to stop this exploitation and poverty pay scandal."

Metro cleaners will have a high profile on Saturday's march and they will be joined by RMT members from across the region and Cumbria along with supporters from Scotland and Yorkshire.

• The Newcastle rally starts at 1.30 pm at Gery's Monument.