Martin Ferguson (Batman, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister for Primary Industries, Resources, Forestry and Tourism) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I rise this evening to speak about an important international issue. It relates to the campaign launched this month to protect those most vulnerable workers amongst us: those who clean up after us—the people who clean our toilets, mop our floors and hoover our offices. This is a good reminder to all members here, who have the privilege of working in one of the most spotless buildings in the country. I extend my sincere appreciation to those workers, many of whom are migrant women who have handled a variety of jobs around Canberra. I note there is an international push at the moment to improve the conditions for cleaners, which was also launched recently in cities across Australia and New Zealand. This campaign to improve the lot of cleaners is also being run in the Netherlands, the US and the UK.

Earlier this month cleaners for Deutsche Bank in London were among thousands of workers that gathered at Westminster Cathedral to hear the leader of the Catholic Church, Cardinal Cormac Murphy-O’Connor. Cardinal Murphy-O’Connor called for corporations to give these workers a fair go and give them back their dignity through the provision of a living wage—something which is part of the debate in Australia at this point. The Deutsche Bank cleaners are seeking a minute percentage of the bank’s record profit of $2.9 billion. A similar campaign in the US, Justice for Janitors, was also backed by religious leaders.

The Australian launch of the campaign across our capital cities, appropriately called Clean Start, also included the support of church leaders, who joined Labor and union representatives at various rallies around Australia. The campaign in Australia is particularly timely given the impact of the government’s harsh industrial relations laws on cleaners. The situation is so bad for these workers that many of them have to turn to charities just to survive. This is one of the reasons churches are so concerned, because looking after these people actually falls to charities and churches all too frequently.

Let us stop for a moment to think why that is so, remembering what these workers do and the conditions they work under. Many of them rise before dawn or work late into the night after all the office workers have switched off their lights and have gone home at a reasonable hour. They have impossibly tight schedules, which makes it very difficult for them to complete the job properly. Their work is physically demanding. They vacuum, scrub, mop and clean up after people, such as all of us members of parliament. They have to bend down to clean dirty corners or reach up high to clean windows and ceilings. They have short-term contracts, which means they often work two jobs, rising early and working late into the night to make ends meet. They have to deal with chemicals and poor equipment. And for this they are paid a pittance. The federal minimum wage for cleaners is $13.77 per hour and permanent part-time cleaners stand to lose at least a quarter of their wages because of proposed cuts in penalty rates for early morning and evening work.

Cleaners are our invisible army. They are rarely seen and rarely heard. This campaign gives them a voice against the largest corporations amongst us. Recently, for example, workers in 10 cities across Australia protested against AMP and their Capital Investors division which manages buildings on behalf of property owners. The contrast cannot be greater: the gleaming buildings of such corporate giants, polished and maintained by workers being paid below-poverty wages. Just think about the wages paid to cleaners cleaning the facilities owned and operated by Macquarie Bank, whose chief executive earns $58,000 per week compared to about $13.50 per hour for the cleaners. At the AMP owned Santos House cleaners have to clean toilets and kitchens, vacuum floors and remove rubbish on 14 levels in—guess what?—three hours. Sweated labour and harsh working conditions exist for these people.

It is time these corporations got a heart. It is time they recognised those workers work hard to make sure they have clean, comfortable and decent work environments. In conclusion, I commend all those involved in the fight on behalf of cleaners, including the churches both here and abroad. Just because we rarely see them, we should not forget them. They are human beings who also have to meet their own financial commitments, often working much harder and in more difficult conditions than members of parliament. I commend the Clean Start campaign to Australia at large and especially to the big corporations who use up and abuse these decent, hardworking men and women.