Statewide Quality Services, a mainland contractor, is stealing night cleaners’ wages through sham contracts at Glenorchy Central in Tasmania.
Workers, supported by the cleaners’ union United Workers Union, will rally outside the shopping centre today, calling on the property owner SCA Property Group to stop this exploitation of their cleaners.
SCA Property Group has a portfolio worth over $3 billion dollars and can afford to do the right thing.
Quotes attributable to United Workers Union Property Services spokesperson Sarah Ellis:
“We’ve had numerous reports from the Nepalese community that sham contracting is happening at Glenorchy Central and multiple other sites in the Greater Hobart area.
“This appears to be a classic case of discrimination. Many of Glenorchy Centre’s cleaners are migrant workers, a group often targeted by dodgy contractors because they do not always know their workplace rights, such as the right to join a union.
“Cleaners at Glenorchy Central have been forced to obtain ABNs, which the contractor Statewide is using to commit wage theft and withhold entitlements such as annual leave, sick leave, superannuation, and so on. We know cleaners have been threatened by Statewide with job losses, should they speak with the union.
“We’ve seen from Victoria just how dangerous it can be to allow dodgy contractors to operate in essential services. The Coronavirus crisis has highlighted just how essential cleaners are and have always been, yet Glenorchy Central has been irresponsibly dismissive of their value.
“SCA Property Group is ultimately responsible for allowing this to happen in their shopping centre. We are raising this issue today as we will not sit by and let cleaning jobs be undermined. The Union is committed to exposing sham contracting wherever we find it.”
Background
A sham contracting arrangement occurs where an employer attempts to disguise an employment relationship as an independent contracting arrangement.