Spotless cleaning staff to walk off the job in major shopping centres

Cleaners employed by Spotless will walk off the job on the eve of the two busiest shopping days of the year as they continue to fight for better pay and working conditions.

Chadstone Shopping Centre, which will be open for 24 hour trading on December 23 and 24, is amongst 11 of the state's busiest centres which the Cleaners Union has declared vulnerable to the strikes.

Strike action could also affect shoppers at Westfield Doncaster, Westfield Fountain Gate, Werribee Plaza, Broadmeadows Town Centre, Epping Plaza, Victoria Gardens, Stockland The Pines, Hoppers Crossing Shopping Centre, Corio Village in Geelong and Stockland Wendouree in Ballarat.

Cleaners Union Assistant State Secretary Ben Redford said that cleaners were being faced with "back breaking workloads," and were paid as little as $600 per week.

"Over the last two full days of Christmas shopping, many cleaners will be on strike. Obviously these are the two busiest shopping days of the year, so toilets and food courts could get very dirty very quickly — and may even need to be closed altogether,” he said.

"So if you’re trying to cram in some last-minute Christmas shopping at your favourite mall, it may be good idea to avoid the food courts and use your own bathroom before you leave home."

A Uniting Church report into the poverty pay cleaners earn, often as little as $16.57 an hour, found that more than 80 per cent of cleaners surveyed couldn't support a family on their wages.

It also found increased workloads were contributing to a spate of injuries, heart disease, depression and breakdowns.

"Cleaners are something of an invisible army, rarely seen and never heard. But they want the public to know how tough things are for them and how important their job is, so they have been peacefully protesting and leafleting at many shopping centres," Mr Redford said.

Spotless is the largest cleaning contractor in Victoria with nearly 20 per cent of all shopping centre cleaners employed by the company.

Spotless spokeswoman Kerrina Lawrence said despite a United Voice union public fear campaign, its cleaners have benefited from regular wage increases and shopping centres have remained clean over the past year.

"Above the base award rate, many Spotless cleaners receive penalty rates, overtime and extra allowances for certain types of work, averaging an hourly rate of $21 per hour or more," she said in a statement.

"I can assure you that shoppers will not be impacted."

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