United Voice News
NSW cleaners celebrate a Clean Start in government cleaning
NSW cleaners today celebrated a win in the Clean Start campaign with the NSW Government signing on to the agreement.
LHMU NSW Executive Vice President Rebecca Reilly said cleaners welcomed the government's commitment to improving cleaners' pay and conditions. "We welcome the government signing on to Clean Start," she said. "It shows it is part of the industry solution not a race to the bottom for workers' rights and entitlements. The government has now created a level playing field so contractors don't undercut each other, by cutting cleaners' wages and conditions."
NSW IR and Commerce Minister John Robertson said it was the "culmination of a lot of hard work by cleaners". "I was actually involved with the Clean Start agreement [and] some of the events with the [LHMU] in my old role so I really do appreciate the significance of this," he said.
"This is really an important document that locks in wage increases for four years. It commits the government to making sure you get fair wages and fair conditions which is really important," Robertson told cleaners gathered at today's announcement in Sydney.
The announcement was made at the government owned Energy Australia Building in Sydney which is cleaned by a Clean Start contractor. Cleaner Zaman Ahmed who cleans that building was proud to be at the announcement. "It was great," he says. "All the [political] parties should see our campaign and support it. And the [cleaning] companies will see this and support our campaign and sign the agreement."
"The agreement is very important for cleaners because every cleaner is working hard. Most of these buildings, they have huge workloads," Zaman says. "It will improve pay and conditions. It's just the start. But it's a good start and it’ll be nice in the future."
The government has also committed to working with LHMU to ensure all contractors are compliant with the agreement. Rebecca said, "We welcome the NSW Government's commitment to actually working together where there are issues in relation to the contract cleaning industry and hope to resolve them in a professional manner."
