The Fair Work Ombudsman (FWO) announced today that it has commenced audits of up to 1,000 cleaning contractors throughout Australia. As part of this latest campaign, the FWO is also scrutinising the processes for tendering and procuring cleaning services at a selection of major shopping centres in Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane and Adelaide.
Fair Work inspectors will check cleaning contractors are paying employees their minimum lawful entitlements, including minimum hourly rates and penalty rates.
The FWO has also written to 22,000 cleaning industry operators to highlight the free resources at www.fairwork.gov.au/cleaning that can help them understand workplace laws and comply with their obligations.
Acting Fair Work Ombudsman, Michael Campbell, said the cleaning industry was being targeted as a follow-up to a similar campaign in 2010 in which 149 of 376 cleaning businesses audited (40 percent) were found to be non-compliant with workplace laws and almost $500,000 was recovered for 934 underpaid workers.
“The cleaning industry continues to generate many complaints to our Agency and we recover hundreds of thousands of dollars for underpaid cleaning workers each year,” Campbell noted.
“The cleaning industry employs large numbers of young people and migrant workers who can be vulnerable if they are not fully aware of their rights, so it’s important we are proactive about ensuring they are paid their full entitlements.”
Fair Work inspectors will audit cleaning contractors located in areas including:
* NSW/ACT: Sydney, Canberra, Albury, Armidale, Ballina, Cessnock, Coffs Harbour, Corowa, Deniliquin, Goulburn, Grafton, Griffith, Maitland, Newcastle, Orange, Punchbowl, Tamworth, Taree and Wollongong.
* VIC: Melbourne, Ballarat, Colac, Geelong, Hamilton, Maryborough, Mildura, Sale, Shepparton, Torquay, Traralgon and Wonthaggi.
* QLD: Brisbane, Cairns, Gatton, Gladstone, Gold Coast, Gympie, Mackay, Mount Isa, Roma, Sunshine Coast, Toowoomba and Townsville.
* WA: Perth, Broome, Bunbury, Collie, Derby, Mandurah and Port Hedland.
* SA: Adelaide, Millicent, Mount Gambier, Murray Bridge and Whyalla.
* Tas: Hobart, Launceston, Devonport and Burnie.
* NT: Darwin and Alice Springs.
Examination of procurement processes at major shopping centres
The FWO’s examination of tendering and procurement processes will involve four major shopping centres in Sydney, two in Adelaide and one each in Melbourne and Brisbane.
Fair Work inspectors will assess the governance processes that shopping centre owners have in place for awarding cleaning contracts to principal contractors, as well as principal contractors’ processes for procuring subcontractors.
Inspectors will also assess the mechanisms shopping centre owners have in place for ensuring the principal contractors and subcontractors who employ the cleaning staff at their centres are complying with workplace laws.
Campbell pointed out that cleaning services was a very competitive sector and managers needed to be alert to the non-compliance risks associated with selecting low-cost providers.
“The selection of the lowest-cost contractor in a procurement process can sometimes result in the cleaning employees engaged by the contractor being underpaid their minimum lawful entitlements,” he stated.
“The responsibility for ensuring the workplace rights of these workers is observed is not the cleaning contractors’ alone.
“It is not acceptable for organisations to outsource work to the lowest-cost contractor and turn a blind eye to any subsequent unfair treatment of low-paid workers. Such behaviour can be detrimental to an organisation’s reputation and may also be considered unlawful.”
United Voice welcomes latest audit
Michael Crosby, United Voice’s national president, welcomed the Fair Work Ombudsman’s latest investigation into contract cleaning.
“Many companies run successful and ethical businesses. They do the right thing by their clients and ensure cleaners are legally and fairly employed under the Clean Start Agreement, which sets the national quality standards in the industry.
“Then there are the others – shonky operators, who will do anything for a quick buck:
• undercut competitors to win contracts
• underpay wages and entitlements
• pay cash in hand
• provide inadequate training and unsafe working conditions
• engage in sham contracting (where cleaners are duped into obtaining ABN numbers so the contractors can avoid paying legal obligations such as workers’ compensation, sick leave, annual leave, etc).
“Cleaners are especially vulnerable to exploitation. Their work is solitary, all too often performed late at night and early in the morning, when the rest of us are enjoying the comfort of our families and homes. Many are international students and/or from non-English speaking backgrounds.
“For too long many property owners and principal contractors have ignored the real cost of their actions: a hidden workforce of exploited, overworked and underpaid workers struggling to survive on poverty wages.
“We acknowledge the Ombudsman’s collaborative approach to enforcing legal standards and welcome the investigation into tendering and procurement practices, which are the key to ridding the industry of dodgy operators protected by complicated contracting supply chains.”