Eurostar Cleaners To Go On Strike

Having mulled it over earlier in the year, cleaning staff for Eurostar are pressing ahead with industrial action.

They'll drop their mops for six scheduled 24-hour stoppages through October and early December, after their employer, the Carlyle Group, refused to heed their (perhaps understandable) complaints about a new fingerprint-driven system of clocking in and out. Concerns about possible redundancies has also fuelled the action. Bob Crow, le grand fromage of the RMT, whose members are the ones poised to strike, described the treatment of the cleaners as a "national disgrace".

Eurostar reckon services will be unaffected, but you'll be expected to clear away your own moules mariniere shells and fold that copy of Le Monde carefully back into the seat pocket.

The strikes are planned for 2, 4, 16, 18 and 30 October and 1 November.

Photo by Fabrizio Tavaroli