TRANSPORT workers were urged to start occupying the offices of employment agencies today in the fight to gain justice for exploited London Underground cleaners.

RMT members meeting at the union’s annual conference in Manchester voted to fight for the welfare of cleaners, including demanding free travel passes for cleaners and a final-salary pension.

They have also demanded the right of cleaners to swap shifts and for proper rights to sick pay.

East Ham delegate Lorna Tooley told delegates of a cleaner in her branch who used to clean two stations.

But the workload has now doubled and the cleaner must now clean four stations.

Ms Tooley went on: “She simply cannot do the work she is expected to do in that amount of time.

“If staff are injured, who are the people who get the blame? It won’t be contractors, it won’t be London Underground, it’ll be cleaners.

“Cleaners need to be brought back in-house.

“They need sick pay, they need a proper pension scheme, they need the basic rights we are entitled to as transport workers.”

RMT assistant general secretary Mick Lynch told delegates: “We’ve got to pin it on Virgin, Siemens, Hitachi — we should go to those clients, we go to those offices, we occupy the lobby or whatever it is we are able to do.

“It’s not the fault of cleaners that they are outsourced — we want them back in-house and we want them in the union.

“In-sourcing is the answer, but we need to have solutions for these cleaners immediately.”