Sydney shopping mall cleaners walk off job
21 Dec 2011
By: AAP, Sydney Morning Herald, Shopping centre cleaners have downed mops and walked off the job in Sydney's CBD, continuing their fight for better pay.
Cleaners employed by Spotless rallied outside Westfield Centrepoint from 5pm on Wednesday, calling for retail cleaners to receive pay equal to that of office cleaners.
Spotless employs cleaners at shopping centres across the country, including a number of Westfield centres.
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Wednesday's stoppage is the latest organised by the cleaners' union, United Voice, which is pushing for an extension of Clean Start wages and conditions beyond CBD offices.
United Voice says Spotless already pays Clean Start rates to employees at the Piccadilly Centre, approximately 100m away.
"The fact that the same company won't sit down and negotiate an agreement for retail cleaners is ridiculous," United Voice assistant secretary, Mel Gatfield, said.
"Cleaners work hard and do an important job for which they are paid $16.57 an hour.
"It's not enough for their families to live on and that is especially obvious at Christmas."
But Spotless has hit back at the comments, saying the company had given three wage increases in the last 18 months.
"Unlike some other cleaning companies that resort to paying wages that are less than the award, Spotless relies on having qualified and adequately paid employees who receive all of their award entitlements," a spokeswoman for Spotless said in a statement.
"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."
Spotless accused the union of singling it out.
"The union appears intent on creating an uneven playing field through targeting Spotless rather than dealing with the industry as a whole."
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