Cleaners set to strike
22 Dec 2011
By Ben Schneiders, The Age, CLEANERS say they will intensify their industrial action at major shopping centres in the lead-up to Christmas with contractor Spotless told to expect two 24-hour strikes in coming days.
United Voice assistant state secretary Ben Redford said the industrial action could involve hundreds of cleaners with the consecutive 24-hour strikes set to start from December 23. He said the strikes were about low pay, workloads and Spotless' refusal to bargain with them.
Spotless dismissed this, saying the union was involved in a ''public fear campaign'' and centres had remained clean during the year-long union campaign.
Spotless defended not bargaining with the union and said the award was the ''best way to achieve equitable wages and conditions for all cleaners working across all sectors and industries and not just shopping centre cleaners''.
Under the award, cleaners are paid a base rate of $16.57 an hour although that rises on weekends, night shift and holidays.
United Voice would not say how many shopping centres would be affected by strikes, although it has flagged at least two centres to be hit.
http://www.theage.com.au/victoria/cleaners-set-to-strike-20111221-1p5nj.html
Find us elsewhere: