Culture

Parliament House Cleaners Have Gone On Strike; Politicians Will Be Left In Their Own Filth All Week

Time for Tone to put that golden toilet brush to good use.

by Meg Watson  17 August 2015

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As we learned earlier this year, when Senator Glenn Lazarus ran out to a protest, held an enormous golden toilet brush atop his head and bellowed like a Spartan warrior, the cleaners at Parliament House have to do a hell of a lot to get heard. Now, as the government has taken no measure to improve their pay or working conditions, they’ve announced a week-long strike. From today until Saturday, every bathroom and toilet and Parliament House will be left uncleaned.

Backed by the industrial union United Voice, the group have unsurprisingly indicated this renewed protest has a lot to do with the expense scandals and literal joyrides of a certain politician. “The contrast between the Government’s harsh treatment of their hard-working cleaners and their personal self-indulgence and waste of taxpayers’ money could not be more stark,” ACT Secretary of United Voice Lyndal Ryan said in a statement this morning.

“While this excess has been going on, Parliament House cleaners’ pay remains frozen at the July 2012 rate. This pay freeze is a direct result of the Government’s dumping of the Commonwealth Cleaning Services Guidelines … I call on Tony Smith, the new speaker of the House of Representatives, to do the right thing and authorise a pay increase for the cleaners.”

The cleaners are currently earning $21.10 per hour and are asking for an increase of $1.80. This is still significantly less than what they were earning beforehand with the cutting of the Cleaning Services Guidelines slashing their yearly pay by a huge $6,800. On top of this, they claim conditions have been worsening for years. Speaking to the ABC this morning, Ryan said the number of cleaners has dropped from around 100 to just 40 since 1988 and they’re still being expected to maintain the building’s 4,700 rooms. If their problems are addressed before the full week is out, they’ll happily return to work.

Just like last time, members of the Opposition and independent parties have been quick to get behind the group with Labor’s workplace relations spokesperson Brendan O’Connor slamming the government on Insiders yesterday.

“These are hard-working people who sometimes have three jobs and they shouldn’t be treated in that manner,” he said. “It doesn’t matter where you look with respect to this government, whether it’s being an apologist for sacking workers by text, whether it’s cutting cleaners’ wages … this government has a callous disregard for the working people of this nation.”

And while there’s a lot of truth to this (as anyone currently clinging to their penalty rates can attest), after a week that brought an infuriating and publicly-derided decision on marriage equality and his own sister resorting to a parody Snoop Dogg to protest his government, it’s absolutely the last thing Tony Abbott needed right now.