United Voice has blamed the government’s annulment of the Commonwealth cleaning services guidelines for the four year wage freeze currently taking place at Parliament House, reported The Age on 12 May 2016. 
Cleaners at Parliament House have not had a pay rise since 2012, despite rises in Canberra’s rates and rents, and the fact that the population of the building has risen to 10,000 when Parliament is sitting.
The cleaning workforce has also been cut dramatically, putting a huge workload on the remaining staff.
‘Cleaners at Parliament House are sick and tired of being treated like dirt’ and are ‘frustrated that a recent strike during a sitting week made no difference to their case’, noted senior reporter Ross Peake.
“It’s not fair to have no pay rise for four years because everything is going up, everything went up and we’re still on the bottom of the pile,” said Luzia Borges, who has been cleaning Parliament House for 28 years.
“How are we going to live or save anything for when we retire? We are the lowest of the low, nobody cares for the cleaners; we’re just here to do the job.”
United Voice ACT branch organiser Erryn Cresshull described the wage freeze as “a big pity because they (the cleaners) do such an amazing job cleaning such a beautiful building”.
“We say the government is to blame because the cleaning services guidelines were taken away as part of the red tape repeal and those guidelines would have ensured annual pay increases for the cleaners in Parliament House and other Commonwealth buildings,” Ms Cresshull said.
More than 100 cleaners were employed when Parliament House first opened. That number is now down to around 40.
“The government should review the disparity in the cleaners’ wages,” said Ms Cresshull.
“There are now more people in Parliament House, more functions are held there and the cleaners are tired. We’re hoping if the contractor does get a tax cut [from the budget] then some of that will be passed on, either in wages to the cleaners or with extra staff.”