Festive smear as cleaners strike at shopping centres across Victoria
13 Dec 2011
By: Jessica Craven, Herald Sun CHRISTMAS shoppers face dirty food courts and filthy toilets at nearly a dozen shopping centres across Victoria as cleaners ramp up strike action over a pay dispute.
Industrial action began with a strike at Corio Village in Geelong on Friday, and now cleaners at another 10 major Victorian shopping centres have notified contracting giant Spotless of their plans to strike from midnight tonight.
Strikes are planned at Chadstone, Westfield Doncaster, Westfield Fountain Gate, Werribee Plaza, Broadmeadows Town Centre, Epping Plaza, Victoria Gardens, Stockland The Pines, Hoppers Crossing Shopping Centre and Wendouree Shopping Centre.
United Voice State Secretary Jess Walsh said cleaners were left with no choice but to strike.
“For years, cleaners have stood by as Spotless ratchets up their workloads to back-breaking levels, while rewarding them with nothing more than poverty pay," she said.
“Spotless’ refusal to even talk with the cleaners who prop up its healthy bottom line means that shoppers may be wading through some stomach-churning scenes at their favourite malls this Christmas.”
Cleaners will also today unveil their fleet of mobile billboards the size of semi-trailers, which will graphically warn shoppers about the possibility of dirty toilets and food courts as a result of Spotless’ refusal to back realistic workloads and living wages.
Ms Walsh said a report released last week found that more than half of Spotless shopping centre cleaners surveyed do not get time to clean properly, forcing them to cut corners.
Brutal workloads are also contributing to a spate of injuries, heart disease, depression and breakdowns, according to another report, by the Uniting Church.
The report found that poverty pay — cleaners earn as little as $16.57 an hour, or around $600 a week — means that more than 80 per cent of those surveyed cannot support a family on their wages.
More than half said they were forced to cut back on groceries, and nearly three quarters are struggling to pay bills and debts.
“Spotless says it’s proud to pay award wages, but that just means it refuses to pay more than the legal minimum. The award is supposed to be nothing more than a safety net for workers who cannot bargain with their employers,” Ms Walsh said.
“Spotless is the largest cleaning contractor in the country and employs hundreds of cleaners, so it has no excuse to refuse sitting down with cleaners and liberating them from the poverty trap that is the award.”
Spotless holds more shopping centre cleaning contracts than any other company in Victoria, boasting nearly 20 per cent of the market.
A Spotless spokeswoman denied the claims and said shopping centres would continue to remain clean and tidy during the festival season.
"Spotless continues to abide by the umpire’s rules with its cleaners receiving three wage increases in the past 18 months, including a wage increase on 1 July 2011," she said.
"The award will again be reviewed in early 2012 with an increase expected in mid 2012. Spotless cleaners have safe workloads, the right equipment and other entitlements including shift, overtime, penalty rates and superannuation. This is evidenced by 500 Spotless cleaners currently undertaking traineeships.
"Spotless continues to call on the United Voice union to work with it and other stakeholders to design constructive changes to the cleaning services award and submit these to the industrial umpire, Fair Work Australia. "
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