Overworked, underpaid: cleaners seek sweeping reform

GAMAL Babiker reckons his work as a cleaner has become much tougher over his 11 years at the Chadstone shopping complex.

Mr Babiker, who is paid about $16 an hour, said in recent years he has to do far more work on his shifts and no longer receives any overtime.

He blames cut-throat competition between cleaning contractors for his situation. ''I feel there is no future (in cleaning),'' he said. ''Every two or three years they change contracts … looking for a cut in the contract.

Tomorrow, cleaning union United Voice will release a national report on the retail cleaning industry that states the pressure from shopping-centre owners to cut prices is causing a ''crisis'' in cleaning. National secretary Louise Tarrant said shopping-centre owners were pursuing an ''unsustainable business model'' that put cleanliness and working conditions at risk while demanding better-quality cleaning. ''The contracts that are being let are becoming leaner and leaner,'' she said.

Shopping Centre Council of Australia executive director Milton Cockburn said it was wrong to say centres were pushing down spending on cleaning contracts and that workers were the victims. ''We emphatically reject that,'' he said.

Mr Cockburn said while there was always pressure to keep expenses low, the most important thing for owners was to keep centres clean.

The union report says there is a significant issue with ''sham contracting'' in the industry, with some cleaners working on ABNs so employers avoid paying superannuation or other entitlements.

Ms Tarrant said a significant number of cleaners worked outside the award system and were paid less in cash than the award.

She said the sector needed wholesale reform.

Mr Cockburn said United Voice - through its Clean Start campaign - was pushing for extra money and wage payments. Ms Tarrant said all major cleaning contractors in the sector except Spotless had agreed to talks on the issue as well as Westfield, a large owner of shopping centres.

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