The people who clean Parliament House haven’t had a pay rise in close to three years. They have voted unanimously to take industrial action to get one. Their actions could include work stoppages and bans on cleaning certain areas of the building and doing extra work to cover employees on leave.
The cleaners, members of United Voice, want the minimum hourly rate raised to $22.90, an increase of $1.80. Their wages have been frozen since 2012 because the Abbott government dumped the Commonwealth Cleaning Services Guideline, which had promised an increase.
“My wage is so low and everything’s going up, I really have to budget to survive”, said one of the cleaners who spoke to Red Flag about their fight. “How are we supposed to live? On peanuts? By the time you pay your bills, you have no money left to buy food.”
Parliament House is not a humble building; more than 450 rooms cover 250,000 square metres. It is closed only on Christmas Day, and 40 staff work long hours to keep it clean. The majority of them are older women. Most speak English as a second language.
“We work so much and don’t have enough cleaners to do the job. They’re constantly asking us to do more and more. You do your work and then you do somebody else’s work, but you don’t get paid anything!”
These conditions are in stark contrast to those enjoyed by the men and women whose offices the cleaners maintain. The annual base salary for a member of parliament is $195,000.
“At the end of the day, we clean their mess”, the worker explained. “When they come in the morning and find everything clean, it’s because of us. We are breaking our backs so that they can have clean offices.”
On 15 June, International Cleaners Day, United Voice is calling on members of the public to join the cleaners at a protest and breakfast in support of the workers’ action.
“We are not nervous”, she said. “We’ve been fighting this for many years. We’re all in this together, and this time we really mean business.”
----------
Protest details: Monday 15 June, 7:30am, Parliament House lawns.
