PROSECUTIONS RAISE QUESTIONS ABOUT GOVERNMENT CLEANERS

BRENDAN O’CONNOR MP.
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5 years ago
PROSECUTIONS RAISE QUESTIONS ABOUT GOVERNMENT CLEANERS
BRENDAN O’CONNOR MP
The Morrison Government must guarantee workers cleaning Commonwealth buildings are not being ripped off after a company linked to one of its cleaning contractors was fined $20,000 in the Federal Circuit Court this week.
 
Pioneer Facility Services Pty Ltd were one of four cleaning companies fined a combined total of $65,000 after being found guilty of underpaying staff.

Pioneer director, Francis Xavier Scarce, is also a director of Prompcorp which is subcontracted to clean the Department of Jobs and Small Business buildings in Canberra.

Mr Scarce was also a director of two companies the Fair Work Ombudsman found had subcontracted cleaning to Myer stores where subcontractors had also underpaid staff.

In August, Prompcorp sacked about a third of cleaners working in the Department of Jobs and Small Business and those remaining were given a 16 per cent pay cut.

The prosecutions follow a recent Senate inquiry into the underpayment and exploitation of contract cleaners working for large retailers.

The subsequent report - Wage theft? What wage theft?! - has made 22 recommendations to the Morrison Government on ways to address exploitation, underpayment and sham contracting arrangements in the cleaning industry.
 
A Shorten Labor government will address the problems in our labour market that mean that precarious work is increasing.
 
The out-of-touch Morrison Government has no concern or care when it comes to proper treatment of workers; they are only focussed on their own jobs.
 
Only Labor understands that fairness at work helps to drive a more productive, competitive and prosperous economy.

Rather than the race to the bottom on wages and conditions for all Australian workers we’ve seen under the Liberals, Labor is committed to protecting wages and conditions.
Employment