Cleaners pushed to breaking point: Uniting Church

The report is based on research with nearly 400 shopping centre cleaners and found that:

• Half of all cleaners are stressed about their workload.
• 54% don’t have enough time to clean properly

The report reveals that excessive workloads among cleaners are contributing to a spate of injuries, heart disease, depression, nervous breakdowns and families being torn apart.

The Uniting Church investigation also found that more and more cleaners are falling into a poverty trap, unable to pay bills, sliding deeper into debt and even cutting back on groceries and children’s expenses.

Researchers also recorded a litany of routine violations at some of our biggest shopping malls, including cleaners being underpaid, forced to do unpaid overtime, facing staff shortages, bullying, being required to work through breaks, having to work with faulty equipment and not having the right chemicals.

"This report highlights the difficulty that shopping centre cleaners have in achieving a living wage and acceptable working conditions. I hope that people of faith, and others who care about the wellbeing of cleaners, will be moved to action through hearing, sometimes for the first time, the cleaner’s voice."

Isabel Thomas Dobson,
Moderator, Synod Victoria & Tasmania, Uniting Church in Australia

Download the Uniting Church report here