Louise Pratt (WA, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I rise this evening to commend cleaners involved in what is known as the Clean Start campaign. They should be proud of what they have achieved since the launch of their campaign in the office buildings of CBDs across Australia and New Zealand. At its heart this campaign is about respect: respect for cleaners and the work that they do—work that enables others, including us in this place, to work in a safe and pleasant environment. Often we have not met the people who perform this work, which is so often done outside business hours; but, when we come in at a more reasonable hour, we all benefit from its results. It is about valuing that work and ensuring that it is done under fair and safe conditions for a fair reward. It is about giving those who perform this essential role some security and stability in their employment and some say in how their work is allocated and performed. It is also about the vital role that their union, the LHMU, plays in supporting, organising and advocating for these workers. It is an industry where so many workers are casual or part-time employees, with many from non-English-speaking backgrounds. Many refugees get a start in Australia by working in this sector.

The harsh reality is, though, that historically these workers have been vulnerable to exploitation and that many otherwise reputable employers, governments included, have for too long engaged contractors that force their employees to work in unfair and unreasonable working conditions, conditions that do not give cleaners the chance to do their jobs properly, let alone reward them adequately for their work—for example, forcing them to clean around 1,000 square metres of office space an hour, which is the equivalent of four suburban homes. It is little wonder that more than half of all cleaners say that they do not have enough time to do their jobs properly. Other unreasonable conditions include allocating them shifts as short as two hours so they are forced to take on myriad separate jobs to support their families and paying them as little as $302 a week for part-time shifts, a fraction of the salaries earned by those whose offices they clean.

So at negotiating tables, on the streets, on television, on the internet and at meetings with ministers and members of parliament, cleaners have advocated for the last three years for the rights that many other employees take for granted. During the last parliamentary sitting period, I met and spoke at length with a number of these very effective and ardent campaigners. I would like to acknowledge Robert Bancroft and Lesley Flowers from WA, Allan Spank from South Australia, Bikash Basuet from New South Wales and Wendy Hand from Tasmania. I heard firsthand about their conditions of work and their campaign for change for a sustainable cleaning industry focused on quality outcomes and secure employment.

The Clean Start campaign has led to the development of a cleaners charter. Cleaners have worked hard to secure support for the charter from responsible cleaning contractors across Australia. The charter recognises the critical role that cleaners play in the contract cleaning industry and enshrines for them basic rights, such as freedom from discrimination, bullying and harassment at work, the right to a safe workplace and the right to protection from unfair dismissal. It also recognises their responsibilities, such as their responsibility to cooperate with each other to perform the terms of their employment in good faith and their responsibility to cooperate with their employers to improve workplace safety.

The charter embodies the principle that reasonable working conditions produce good faith in the workplace and help lift standards in the cleaning industry. This is for the benefit of everyone—cleaners, cleaning contractors, building owners, tenants and occupants. I am pleased to say that the charter has recently been incorporated in the new Clean Start union collective agreement. This agreement is the result of 12 months of bargaining between responsible cleaning contractors and cleaners supported by the LHMU. It is delivering reasonable workload, four-hour minimum shifts, job security at change of contract, fair leave, annual wage increases of between four and eight per cent over four years, proper induction and on-the-job training, and effective dispute resolution procedures.

Cleaners are currently working hard to ensure that all cleaning contractors sign onto this collective agreement, which represents the next critical step in the campaign to secure respect for some of Australia’s most exploited workers. So far, the majority of cleaning contractors have signed up nationally, including Academy Services, CleanDomain, ISS Facility Services, Menzies Cleaning and Spotless in my home state of WA. As a result, cleaners working in office towers owned by the Commonwealth Bank now receive fair pay, improved job security and more reasonable conditions.

As a result of the Clean Start campaign, contractors and their clients are finally realising that the cleaning industry cannot sustain a race to the bottom. Traditionally, cleaning contracts have been awarded based on the lowest possible quote, resulting in a squeeze on wages and on cleaning standards. It seems like companies themselves have little choice but to cut wages and conditions in order to compete with other companies. It is so important that this now starts to change.

Traditionally, there has been too little time allocated for the job to be done, and contracts fell apart because cleaners left feeling stressed and underpaid and because customers were dissatisfied with the service they received. Clients have borne the costs of recontracting their cleaning services, while cleaners have moved from one insecure and unsatisfactory job to another. The Clean Start campaign has shown that it does not have to work that way, that there is a better way—a way to ensure that cleaners have appropriate wages and conditions and that the time and resources are allocated to the job to get a quality result.

Cleaning companies which have signed up to Clean Start can assure their customers that they are able to provide a quality service, enhancing the quality of the cleaning provided, the stability of the workforce and the satisfaction of clients and tenants. It helps minimise the risks associated with poor quality cleaning, such as OH&S risks and other liabilities. Cleaning costs are a very small part of building operation costs, but good service can have a big impact on the health and safety and the general wellbeing of tenants.

Clean Start recognises responsible contract cleaners, helps to prevent a race to the bottom and sets new standards for the cleaning industry in the process. It may be hard for a business, NGO or government organisation in need of a cleaning service to know what is reasonable and what is not when it comes to a cost-effective and quality cleaning service, but now we have a benchmark. By choosing a Clean Start provider, they know they are signing up for a quality standard, while also being able to judge the competitiveness of the contract against both cost and quality benchmarks.

On that basis I am delighted that the Deputy Prime Minister has announced that the Australian government is joining the Clean Start campaign. I would like to highlight that this really is in the context of our commitment to the Fair Work principles. At the end of last month the Minister for Employment and Workplace Relations, the Hon. Julia Gillard, met with cleaners in Sydney and discussed the government’s commitment to ensuring that only cleaning contractors that meet the Fair Work principles will be awarded Commonwealth contracts. The Commonwealth government is also requiring all contractors who are submitting tenders to provide information about how they comply with the Fair Work principles. So other than just signing up to Clean Start, it is about putting our money where our mouth is and making sure that we treat people fairly.

I think there are other occupations that would benefit from a similar approach to Clean Start. I would like to highlight the hotels’ campaign that is going on at the moment. I really think that this kind of partnership is of benefit to both workers and those who employ them in terms of the quality services that they gain.