United Voice

A growing hygiene crisis in our big shopping malls could threaten to drive away consumers and hit the bottom line of struggling retailers, with a major new report revealing more than half of cleaners surveyed do not have enough time to clean properly.

Cutting Corners, a report by the Uniting Church, found that a ferocious price war by cleaning contractors competing for the business of shopping centres has meant the job is done by fewer and fewer cleaners working fewer and fewer hours.

Download the Cutting Corners report here

The report is based on research with nearly 400 shopping centre cleaners across Victoria.

“This report shows our big shopping malls face growing a hygiene crisis because cleaners no longer get the time to clean thoroughly and have no choice but cut corners to get the job done,” says Jess Walsh, Victorian Secretary of United Voice, the Cleaners Union.

“We all know many retailers are on their knees because of the two-speed economy. This report raises alarm that an even bigger crisis may be just around the corner,” said Walsh.

“It is only a matter of time before shoppers notice the steady decline in hygiene and take their business somewhere cleaner.”

“The last thing we want to see is our big shopping malls turn into ghost towns. It’s time to tackle this crisis before it’s too late.”

The Uniting Church report found that many shopping centre cleaners were struggling to get the job done because of a lack of cleaning chemicals and equipment.

“Shoppers expect our malls to be impeccably clean, but that’s not going to happen when cleaners are forced to unblock toilets with mops or wipe down dirty surfaces with nothing more than water from the tap.”

“And it’s not just the look of our retail centres that are under threat, there are real and obvious health hazards as well,” says Walsh.

As recently as 2006, Melbourne saw an outbreak of legionnaire’s disease involving a shopping centre which killed one person and hospitalised 10 more.

“If parents believe their kids’ health is at risk, they will shop somewhere else,” says Walsh.

The report found that half of all retail cleaners are stressed about their workloads. Cleaners reported extreme workloads, staff shortages and abuse and harassment by supervisors, and more than half say they are not always paid for the overtime they put in.

The untold pressures of the job are responsible for injuries, heart attacks, depression and nervous breakdowns, the report finds. Families are also hard hit, as relationships collapse under the weight of overwork and low pay.

“A shocking 80 per cent of cleaners at our shopping centres say they don’t earn enough to support a family,” Walsh said.

“This is the dark side of  Australia’s two-speed economy, with mining companies reporting huge profits even as retailers report sluggish or even negative growth, it’s actually low-paid workers like cleaners who are paying the highest price.”

“Cleaners are skipping bills, running up debt they cannot pay back and even rationing groceries just to get by week to week,” Walsh says.

“The relentless drive by contractors and retailers to get more cleaning for less money is plunging our lowest-paid Australians into a poverty trap many may never escape.”

“We are in great danger of creating an underclass of working poor that will shame our country for generations to come,” Walsh says.

The Uniting Church is a supporter of United Voice’s Clean Start campaign by shopping centre cleaners to win respect, higher cleaning standards and a living wage.

Download the Cutting Corners report here