The UnitingCare agency Creative Ministries Network in conjunction with the United Voice cleaners union last month launched a report which focused on the plight of Victoria’s working poor within the cleaning industry.

The report, Cutting Corners, highlights the struggles of what is becoming a growing underclass of workers who are unable to live with dignity.

Moderator Isabel Thomas Dobson said Judeo-Christian scriptures spoke against those who profit through the exploitation of workers.

“God is against those who oppress hired workers by giving them unfair wages, as well as oppressors of the widow and the orphan - as expressed in the book of Malachi.

“St Paul also wrote in a letter in the Bible that Christians have a right to command all those who are wealthy to be generous with their wealth,” she said.

In the Islamic faith, the Prophet Muhammad underlined the importance of the just wage by saying, “Give the employee his wages before his sweat has had time to dry.”

Cutting Corners is based on a survey of more than 380 cleaners in some of Victoria’s largest shopping centres. It sates facts demonstrating that cleaners supporting families are hit hardest.

Most full-time shopping centre cleaners earn just $16.57 an hour, which leaves a family of two adults and two children below the poverty line.

• Three-quarters of cleaners (71%) surveyed have problems paying bills and debts.
   
• Three-quarters of cleaners (78%) believe holidays are an unaffordable luxury.
   
• Two-thirds of cleaners can’t afford to visit the dentist, while half (53%) have trouble paying medical expenses.
   
• More than half (59%) can’t afford leisure activities (for example, going to the movies) or participate in community activities (for example, parent, community or religious groups).
   
• Half of cleaners (53%) can’t afford to buy a house.

Creative Ministries Network Director the Rev. John Bottomley, who was the lead author of the report along with Margaret Neith, said one of the first things that struck his team while conducting the research was the depth of pride the cleaners had in their work.

“They could see how important it was to public health, they saw how important it was to their own families to bring in an income and they enjoyed working with one another.

“I think the first thing that struck us was the respect that they had and when we went and looked at some of the Christian social teaching about work that was a very strong resonance.”

Mr Bottomley said the problems stemmed not only from the low pay cleaners received but also by the fact that pay had stagnated over a period of years and the contract cleaning system brought a level of competition that undermined good working conditions.

“The problems that workers were facing were imposed upon them by the economics of contract cleaning,” he said.

However, he did feel there was room for hope and optimism due to the sense of trust between the workers and their union, which he said was embedded in the report.

“I think God extends to humankind a love which is unconditional and we’re simply invited to trust that that love is there for us and that that love is actually manifested in just relationships.

“Sadly, the world that we live in has replaced trust in God with trust in many little gods and those little gods today are essentially bleeding people dry,” he said.

By Chip Henriss
Synod of Victoria and Tasmania