A trip to Stratford to support London Underground cleaners

RMT London Underground cleaners demonstration, Stratford, 27 July 2012

I went to support the RMT's London Underground cleaners demonstration at Stratford today. The cleaners are holding a 48-hour strike in support of their claim for the London living wage (currently £8.30 per hour) and for holiday and sick pay.

The cleaners work for various private firms including Initial and ISS, who sent some spies along to see who was on the demonstration.

As you can imagine, it takes some courage for cleaners to strike, and exceptional courage for them to do so at this time. They held a lively, legal demonstration in front of the entrance to Stratford station, and not far from the entrance to the Olympic Park.

Newham is one of the poorest London boroughs, so the reception was fairly supportive from passers-by. One or two visitors to the Games, however, were very sniffy.

"The whole world is watching us and you put on a display like this. Whatever will they think?" one of them said.

"Perhaps they'll be relieved to see that the UK is still a democracy," I replied, ever the wit.

One droll thing happened. RMT General Secretary Bob Crow was due to appear but didn't make it. The protest was prolonged and prolonged as his current whereabouts were relayed to the waiting crowds.

He was stuck on the Jubilee Line and, in fact, never arrived.

Many people hate Bob Crow. I don't agree with some of his politics, and I certainly don't agree with how much he is paid.

But a lot of the hatred of Crow is because of pure class snobbery: he is (was) a working-class bloke from Essex. And because he is a leader of one of the more militant - though less militant than the Evening Standard would have you believe - trade unions.

As well as being impressed by the resolve of the cleaners and the liveliness of their picket I enjoyed my visit to Stratford, where there was a real sense that the circus - for good and bad - is coming to town.

I haven't been there since about 1989. I lived for a couple of years in Leytonstone and sometimes stopped off at the shopping centre on my way home - on the days when I had a down on myself and the world, that is, for it was such a dreary place.

For all the Olympic razzamatazz, it still is rather a dreary place! But made slightly more joyous with the influx of visitors from all over the world.

Stratford shopping centre is not to be confused, by the way, with Westfield - and it couldn't be! I didn't venture into Westfield today.

I must say, the least appealing aspect so far of this Olympics is the over-the-top branding by the sponsors. It's really oppressive in places, Stratford station being one, plastered as it is with adverts for Lloyds TSB.

I have a lot of pictures from my foray today, and will add a couple to this post later. But by then we will all have our noses pressed to the TV for the opening ceremony. Fingers crossed it all goes well. We paid for it - let's enjoy it.

Would you like branding with your Olympics?

It's about sport, not exploitation, Or: Citizen Barnet's opening ceremony

Are you excited? I am. It would be hard to feel otherwise with the increasing signs around us of the expensive, ludicrous but ultimately, we hope, thrilling spectacle that commences officially tonight.

More and more of it makes sense now. The hideous bubble-gum pink colour they chose for the logo: unmissable - at least, when written on in six inch-high letters - all over the Underground.

When will you see again such an eclectic mix of destinations signposted?

The London mayor Boris Johnson's less than reassuring voice booming at us on public transport: at London Bridge, at Edgware bus station, and now on the buses themselves. Where else on earth could the citizens rudely and defiantly snub the elected head of the capital city using the hashtag #fuckoffboris? And let's not forget the bells, the bells!

Of course, the excitement has reached to almost every town in the nation, not least to our own suburb. Here in Barnet, the anti-cuts and anti-privatisation Barnet Alliance performed a sort of hommage in the shape of the very successful 'Our Barnet, not One Barnet' torch relay and community parade on Saturday 21 July. The Olympic Torch Relay (capitalised, of course) got an enthusiastic welcome in the borough on Wednesday.

I visit the King's Cross area a lot, and have watched the building work that contributes to the Olympics preparations. The sponsors' branding recently plastered all around St Pancras is even more obtrusive and cynical than one feared it might be.

Advertising from McDonald's at St Pancras

It is already taking longer to get around on London transport than usual, even before the Games has commenced. 

Crowds waiting to get onto HS1 which goes through Stratford

London's bus workers accepted the £577 bonus they won through strike action for the extra hassle they will have in the next month. It puts them on a par with Tube workers. But what about the cleaners and security staff, whose work is also essential to delivering participants and spectators to the Games? Their jobs have all been outsourced to companies who try to stop their workers organising for a decent wage at any time.

Today RMT-organised cleaners and security staff on London Underground and the DLR go on strike for 48 hours for the London living wage of £8.30 per hour and an Olympics bonus.

I have been dismayed by the still dirty state of the streets and pavements in central London. Could we not wash them just once for this special occasion? Do we want London to be the Dirty Games? I fear that, unlike for bus and train drivers, the authorities will put up with the cleaners downing tools - one bit more dirt won't hurt. Please support the RMT action today.

A reminder of back in the day, when London Underground cleaning was done in-house - with added King's Cross grime

Of course, the Olympics should be about sport, not exploitation.

While the UK taxpayer picks up the tab for hosting the Games - £9bn and rising - the sportswear manfacturers will be laughing all the way to the bank as their brands are boosted every time one of their sponsored athletes runs faster, jumps higher, or lifts a heavier weight. Every one of those companies' garments is made in a factory where workers struggle to earn a decent wage and must campaign for every improvement in their working conditions, in repressive countries such as China, Sri Lanka and the Philippines.

Enjoy the opening ceremony and the Games but please take the time in the next few hours to sign the Playfair 2012 appeal to the International Olympics Committee to uphold workers' human rights in future Games - children were found making London 2012 pin badges in China. The Olympics is about sport, not exploitation - or it should be.