
Issue No 102		13 July 2001

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News

Brit Cleaners Serve It Up to Aussie Boss

By Andrew Casey

The cleaners at the big Wimbledon tennis event are going to their Aussie bosses and demanding wage parity with Australian cleaners' who are employed by the same company doing the same type of work at big sports events such as the Olympics.

The UK's biggest union, the 700,000 member GMB, will be using the LHMU's agreement with Australian company Cleanevent as the model for negotiations.

"Our argument is that four pounds an hour is poverty pay in Wimbledon, which is one of the riches areas in the UK, and where a one bedroom apartment costs around 200,000 pound," Geoff Martin, the cleaners' spokesman told Workers Online.

" The rates of pay Australian cleaners equates to between seven pounds and eight pounds an hour UK. We will be pressing for parity."

Cleanevent, an Australian multinational operating in the UK and the USA, has just won the tender to clean up Wimbledon after the champers and strawberry set move on.

But according to the Wimbledon union activists Cleanevent cut their members' wages by a third, from six pounds an hour to four pounds an hour.

The LHMU, in a small act of solidarity, sent a hero-gram to Pat Rafter's managers just before he started playing Goran Ivanisevic.

" Australia's cleaning union hopes Pat Rafter comes up trumps at Wimbledon tonight," the message said.

" We're hoping he'll come up trumps not just for himself but also the Wimbledon cleaners who have just had their pay cut by a third by an Australian company," Jo-anne Schofield, the LHMU Cleaning Union Assistant National Secretary said.

" While Wimbeldon evokes strawberries, champagne and money the cleaners have had their wages drastically cut by Australian contract cleaning company, Cleanevent, who won the tender this year for this prestigious event.

" Pat Rafter has a marvelous reputation for decency and believing in the Aussie fair-go. As he receives the $1 million-plus prize money for the men's single event tonight we hope Pat will stand up for the cleaners, the battlers, who had their pay cut by a third .

" We would love to see Pat Rafter tell Cleanevent not to sully Australia's reputation for decency and a fair-go,"Jo-anne Schofield said.

In the end Rafter didn't get a chance to make the winner's speech but the GMB e-mailed the LHMU to thank them for the support - and get as much information as possible about Cleanevent who, they said, was refusing to sign a union recognition agreement.

The GMB's members had stood outside the gates of Wimbeldon handing out flyers protesting that while the prize money for the women's crown has gone up by 7%, the price of strawberries, Pimms, official towels and posters have all gone up - the wages of the cleaners has been cut from six pounds an hour to four pounds an hour.

A cleaner at a Wimbledon-style event in Australia could expect to earn between $18.50 an hour and $21 an hour.

"Cleanevent does have a tendency to adopt aggressive tendering practices for high profile events, but this is tempered by an Enterprise Bargaining Agreement the company has with unions covering events in NSW and Victoria.

" At the Sydney Olympics the union movement was able to stop price-cutting tenderers by successfully putting in a floor under wages with a safety-net Award.

" Cleaners should not be expected to pay for the company's profits by having their wages cut."

What the BBC said

Read the BBC story on Wimbeldon and the dispute with the Cleaners' Union in London just click here.

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Issue 102 contents

Interview: Jolly Green Giant
Senator Bob Brown on the upcoming federal poll, balances of power and what the Greens can teach the trade union movement.

Workplace: Call Centre Takeover
Theresa Davison brings us this real-life story from the coal face of the call centre industry.

E-Change: 1.2 Community ďż˝ The Ultimate Network
Peter Lewis and Michael Gadiel look at the potential for network technologies to reconnect communities.

International: Child's Play
Union Aid Abroad-APHEDA has recently entered a new alliance with the Child Labour Schools Company to support a project for child labourers in India.

History: Flowers to the Rebels Faded
With the departure of our own Wobbly, a look at the development of the Wobblies in Australia and their view of Labor politicians and the work ethic seems timely.

East Timor: A Dirty Little War
In this extract from his new book, John Martinkus recounts the scenes in Dili immediately following the independence ballot.

Satire: Telstra Share Failure Ends City-Bush Divide: Everybody Screwed Equally
Communications Minister Richard Alston today claimed that the government had fulfilled its promise to ensure that the bush was not disproportionately disadvantaged by Telstra's privatisation.

Review: Cheesy Management
Currently climbing Australian best-seller lists is the 'life-changing' motivational book 'Who Moved My Cheese?' Rowan Cahill has a nibble but doesn't like the taste.

» Search for a Dude Begins

» Public Money Backs a Stellar Bully

» Workers Get First Meal Break In Five Years

» Soft Penalty for Video Nasties

» Negligent Employers Should Pay

» Brit Cleaners Serve It Up to Aussie Boss

» Rio Tinto Guilty of Hunter Valley Sackings

» Rail Workers Strike for their Families' Security

» Nurses Seek Urgent Action on Pay

» Workers Win Tip Top Delegate Rights

» Telstra Halts Latest Privatisation Plans

» Requiem for the Banks

» Surfers Remember Oil Slick Disaster

» Widespread Mail Disruptions on Cards

» Minister for Caged Hair Gets Hot Welcome in West

» Cleaner Wins Right to Attend Family Reunion

» Howard Cuts R&D Spending by 15 Per Cent

» Fears Grow Over Shangri-La Protests

» Mick Young Play Award

» Activist Notebook