Broad church lines up with cleaners

“It was very, very good. I enjoyed it. I would like to go back and meet those people again,” the young mother said.

The Hindu woman, who has been cleaning in central Sydney since arriving from Nepal three-and-a-half years ago, was one of a group of retail cleaners who stood up in front of a Uniting Church congregation and told their stories of low wages, heavy workloads and insecure employment.

“I told them the truth,” Pooja said. “I told them about all the cleaners, how hard we work and that we don’t get enough money for a decent life.

“I told them about Clean Start and what it would mean for our families.

“A lot of people came up and talked to me. They know the money is not fair and they support what we are doing.”

Pooja said she was surprised by the number of people at the Pitt St church who signed Clean Start petitions and offered to get out and support the campaign.

Cleaners were impressed that the sermon and bible readings chosen for the day had a strong social justice theme. 
“It was a very good experience for me,” Pooja said, “so many good people.”

Pooja’s brush with Christianity is part of United Voice community campaigning that has been given a shot in the arm by the arrival of the Sydney Alliance.

United Voice assistant secretary, Mel Gatfield, says the Alliance has opened up new avenues for people like retail cleaners to spread their messages.

It was Alliance contacts, she said, that had seen cleaners involved in industrial action embraced by church communities and other community groups.

United Voice cleaners also spoke to parishioners during a Uniting Church service at Forrestville on Sydney’s North Shore.

Blacktown cleaner, David Westrip, has been at the forefront of meeting groups in western Sydney where a series of informal lunches have introduced cleaners to a cross section of the community.

This has proved particularly valuable at Mt Druitt where, the union says, intimidation has some immigrant cleaners wary about waving the Clean Start banner in public.

Instead, Mt Druitt cleaners have been able to tell their stories informally to people from Mission Australia, the St Marys, Rooty Hill and Bidwill Uniting Church congregations, Urban Neighbours of Hope, and the Washhouse.

They slip away during their lunch breaks and explain the effects of low wages and insecure employment on their families over sandwiches and a cup of coffee.

Mel Gatfield says the response has been “very encouraging” and a number of other church visits and western Sydney lunches have been pencilled in for next year.