Spontaneous cleaners’ strike in western Sydney

They work at one of the largest single-business office complexes in the southern hemisphere – the Optus “yes campus” in Macquarie Park. They clean the six office towers that make up what the telecommunications giant describes as its “state-of-the-art” home in Sydney’s west. It’s a building complex, Optus boasts, that emphasises shared spaces “where ideas can be exchanged”.

Earlier this month, 35 workers had an idea that they wanted better pay and secure jobs. Their boss, Jani King Cleaning, had a different idea. One of the Jani King franchises is contracted by Optus to clean its “campus”. When new owners bought the franchise, they tried to sack some of the cleaners. The workers responded with an immediate strike.

The cleaners, who are now members of United Voice, stood together as the boss tried to divide them, offering permanent contracts to some in exchange for selling out the others. Pradeep, who has worked at Jani King for three years and organised the strike, argued for secure, permanent contracts and fair conditions for all.

“We are united, we are together”, he told Red Flag. “We want fairness for all of us; we work hard.”

He explained that many of the workers have been at the company earning as little as $18 an hour, without superannuation payments, for more than five years. They had talked about fighting for better conditions before their 1 June strike. “We always thought that if we do it, it will create too many problems”, he said. “But it’s too much now and we have to stand against them.”

After the strike, Jani King management negotiated with the workers and United Voice, and offered casual jobs with the promise of permanent contracts to follow.

However, Pradeep says that their fight continues. Management is now refusing to follow through on its pledge of secure contracts for everyone and has also included a pay cut in the deal. “We got played and suffered a lot. They went back on their word”, he said.

Exploitation and mistreatment of cleaners are common in Australia. Many in the industry are paid below minimum wage. Bullying and intimidation are widely reported. New management at Jani King have followed in this tradition.

“He talks to us like we are not even human”, Pradeep says of one of his managers. “Nobody really thinks of cleaners as human.”

Pradeep says that their plight has also been ignored by Optus. The company has not responded to the workers’ attempts to discuss their treatment at the hands of its contractor.

Through its Clean Start campaign, United Voice has spent years trying to establish basic conditions across the cleaning industry. It says that the widespread use of subcontracting arrangements is responsible for “perpetuating and exacerbating” the worst practices in the industry.

Pradeep is determined to keep the Jani King workers’ struggle going until they win all of their demands. “I’m standing up for all of us. I really want to fight this.”