Cleaners ‘living in poverty’
MANY Tasmanian cleaners are living in poverty because of insecure work and poor pay, a federal parliamentary inquiry has heard.
The inquiry into the exploitation of cleaners working in large retail chains met in Devonport yesterday.
Former cleaner Wendy Hand told the inquiry that below-award wages and unpaid work were common features of the industry.
“Many cleaners are living in poverty right now because of insecure work, wage stagnation and the constant undercutting of contracts,” said Ms Hand, who is a member of cleaners’ union United Voice Tasmania.
Ms Hand, who recently retired due to workplace injury, said many cleaners developed injuries while on the job but were too scared to speak up.
“Sometimes cleaners are working with injury but don’t say anything — it’s a really endemic problem,” she said outside of the inquiry.
She said they also accepted reduced hours, even when the job sizes stayed the same.
“You end up working unpaid overtime because it’s not like you can just walk off the job, you take pride in your work.”
“We struggle week to week to manage to pay bills and to put a roof over our heads and it’s because of this that many cleaners feel powerless to stand up to employers who bully them into sham contracting and unpaid overtime.”
United Voice lead organiser Sarah Ellis told the inquiry about the practice of “sham contracting”, where companies ask cleaners to get their own Australian Business Number to identify themselves as a business.
“This way they are not actually employees and they don’t have to pay them the award wage.”
The inquiry, which is holding hearings around the country, follows an investigation by the Fair Work Ombudsman into Woolworths contract cleaners in Tasmania.
The inquiry uncovered “rampant exploitation” in Tasmania by cleaning contractors, with breaches across 90 per cent of Woolworths sites.
In its submission to the inquiry, Woolworths general manager Trent Mason says the company has implemented significant changes to improve compliance.