Responsible cleaning company scapegoat in union campaign

A cleaning contracting company with responsible employment policies has become the scapegoat in a union drive for industry-wide reform.

The Service and Food Workers Union (SFWU) is currently holding vigils outside two buildings serviced by ToTal Property Services as part of the “Clean Start Campaign”, an international campaign for reform in the cleaning industry.

The properties affected are the Price Waterhouse Cooper Building on Auckland’s waterfront and the State Insurance Tower in Wellington.

In particular, the company is being targeted for their refusal to sign up to the union’s Responsible Cleaning Contractor Agreement in an attack that has also seen the union making specific allegations against the employment conditions and pay of the company’s workers.

The trade association representing the cleaning industry is backing ToTal Property Services; with Marja Verkerk, Executive Director of the Building Service Contractors of New Zealand (BSCNZ), saying that the singling out of ToTal Property Services is unjustified and the company is an exemplary employer.

“All BSCNZ members are party to the Multi Employers Collective Agreement (MECA), which is negotiated with SFWU and as such agree to certain measures including not paying youth rates, adhering to strict health and safety guidelines and actively promoting professional training and qualifications. ToTal Property Services exceeds what is required by our members in many of these areas.”

ToTal Property Services Managing Director John Garlick says the company has a proven track record as a responsible contracting company which goes above and beyond many industry standards.

“We pay wage rates above those negotiated in the MECA, and just yesterday our employees received a 4.5% pay increase for 2007. We believe that our company sets a practical example of how constructive engagement can deliver better pay conditions to workers in our industry.”

Ms Verkerk agrees that the union should concentrate on entering into discussion with the industry as a whole, noting that the reason ToTal Property Services is being targeted is due to the prominence of the buildings the company services within the Auckland and Wellington CBD areas.

“It is no surprise that SFWU has chosen to stage their vigils outside buildings where they will be in the public eye. However we believe that their energies would be better spent on trying to raise the standards of companies that are not BSCNZ members instead of singling out just one company.”

ENDS

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