Cleaners lodge for protected industrial action

Shopping centre cleaners have lodged an application with Fair Work Australia to launch industrial action with employers refusing to negotiate better pay and conditions. Cleaners are working full time and taking home pay of $600 a week, not enough to support their families. They are referred to as the working poor. The award rate is $16.50 an hour. A typical shift involves walking 20 kilometres a day. David Westrip*, cleaner, says the wage paid by contractor Spotless is the lowest he's ever been paid. Marie O'Halloran, co chair of NSW Anti Poverty Week says shopping centre cleaners work full time and that they don't have enough money to have a reasonable standard of living. O'Halloran said Australians will be astonished to know that you can work 38 hours a week and still be in poverty. Shan* Muller, a cleaner with Spotless, finds trouble paying bills and has to borrow money from his parents.

Listen to cleaners tell their story on Sydney's 2SER  http://2ser.podomatic.com/entry/index/2011-10-22T04_33_35-07_00