The announcement of the winner of the Golden Toilet Brush Award is a highlight of International Cleaners Day in New Zealand.
It has been awarded in the past to building owners and cleaning companies who have failed to recognise that their profits are built on the backs of the thousands of workers who do the work of keeping New Zealand clean.
Although Trans-national cleaning company OCS won the 2010 award, easily defeating all the other nominations, they were too bashful to step forward to receive their trophy and make a speech honouring their cleaning workforce.
Mind you, if I was in the shoes of the OCS Chief Executive, I wouldn’t be claiming credit for consistent non-payment and late payment of cleaners’ wages, for refusing to play a constructive role in boosting cleaning wage rates, for using public hospital cleaners as pawns in the attempt to ring more money from the District Health Boards, for trying to force cleaners on to fortnightly pays and for arguing that Part 6A of the Employment Relations Act (which provides protection to cleaners during contract changes) should be repealed.
I would be so embarrassed by this long list of crimes against the cleaning workforce that I would immediately volunteer to go away for an SFWU education camp, where I would for one month agree to forsake my warm Remuera villa and $200,000 salary to live on $27,000 working from 9.30 p.m. to 6.00 a.m. in a cold central city office building cleaning up the muck created by hundreds of workers that I never get the chance to meet.
Today we joined with other fellow service sector unions around the world and celebrated cleaners as individuals, members of communities, mothers, fathers, aunties, uncles and grandparents.
We also gave other stakeholders in the cleaning sector something to think about.
