RMT senior assistant general secretary Eddie Dempsey launched a scathing attack on cleaning contractors today at the union’s AGM in Bournemouth.

Speaking in support of an unanimously backed motion calling for all cleaners to be paid at least £15 an hour and for their jobs to be brought back in house by rail companies, Mr Dempsey condemned the “racket” that operates in the industry.

He said: “I’ve seen undocumented workers being paid in little brown envelopes of cash money below the minimum wage.

“I’ve seen cleaners taken away by the Border Agency because they don’t have the right documents.

“There are employers who’ve tried to use a race war in depots to turn workers from different nationalities abroad against one another to prevent them being organised.

“I’ve seen women forced to give sexual favours to get shifts in this cleaning sector and pregnant women made to work with dangerous chemicals in their jobs which may harm their unborn children.

“The reason you see all of this is because what we have on our hands is a racket.

“We have a system that is set up to allow private companies to exploit our members to the nth degree, in a situation that creates a permanent downward pressure on wages and conditions.”

Mr Dempsey added that 80-90 per cent of union members in outsourced cleaning grades are on such low wages that they are forced to top them up with benefits.

“We have to redouble our efforts because we are up against a series of people who are determined to exploit our members,” he said.

“A central plank of our campaign is the insourcing our members, because they are railway workers just like us.”

Earlier, Roy Osarogiagbon of Jubilee South branch moved the motion, telling conference: “These contractors are exploiting the workers for their profits, not caring about our livelihoods.

“It is imperative we are bought back in house, paid £15 an hour and to get sick pay.”

Mr Osarogiagbon also said that the personal protective equipment provided to cleaners was often of poor quality and women were commonly forced to wear inappropriate and ill-fitting men’s clothing.