Report highlights vulnerability of subcontracted workers

Although government tenders stipulate all persons working on the tendered job must be employed in accordance with legal requirements, members appointed by government to sit on Evaluation or Review Boards for the award of tenders do not have the remit to look into the employment conditions under which these employees will be working.

This is one of the conclusions of a report authored by Jeannine Vassallo and Saviour Rizzo from Centre for Labour Studies recently published by the European Industrial Relations Observatory about the conditions of workers in the cleaning sector.

Moreover, in order to be awarded the contract most firms have to lower their bid. This may give them little financial leeway to try to improve the plight of their workers.

"All these factors in a sector employing low-skilled workers who can easily be replaced make this category of workers very vulnerable."

The report laments the lack of a culture of solidarity among this category of workers. This is attributed to the high labour turnover of workers in this sector and the fact that many of them work on an individual basis.

The small size of the firms also increases the fear of reprisals, which acts a deterrent for employees to join unions. The report refers to a court case about an ex-employee of a cleaning firm who is alleging that she was threatened because her boss found out that she was a member of the GWU.

 "Unstable working conditions are fuelled by the impression that little or no skills are required for people to be able to work in this industry, a hire-and-fire policy adopted by employers and contractors, and the risk of poverty which workers in this industry often face".

According to the GWU representative interviewed in the report, employees in this industry are generally people who have few employment opportunities outside the sector and who face social difficulties, such as poverty caused by immigration or single motherhood.

For these reasons, the GWU representative claimed that the sector attracts people who are in real need of money, people for whom 'a few euros make a difference'. This acute need for cash, he claimed, forces people to accept salaries and working conditions which barely meet the minimum legal requirements. One such working condition which is sometimes put to employees in this sector is that they cannot join a labour union. This explains why union membership in the sector is low.

The GWU has even changed its union membership payment options for workers in this sector.

Whereas people in other sectors have the union membership fee automatically deducted from their wage, workers in this sector are given the option of discreetly paying in person at the GWU desk so that their employer will not find out about their membership.

The fact that people are performing undeclared work further exacerbates the precariousness of their job and wages, and puts into question their entitlement to sick leave, pensions and other benefits.

Official statistics show that only 182 men and 325 women are employed in this sector.

The high level of illegal employment in this sector also makes it impossible to establish how many people actually work in the cleaning industry. Thus, although the figures presented in this report should be considered official, the statistics have to be interpreted with caution.

The report refers to two major initiatives taken over the past two years to change the situation for workers in the cleaning industry. In 2009, the Institute of Tourism Studies opened the Centre for Cleaning Science in collaboration with the British Institute of Cleaning Science. The aim of this Centre is to introduce internationally recognised cleaning procedures with the ultimate aim of enhancing the overall profile and standard of the cleaning industry in Malta.

In the budget for 2011, the government attempted to reduce the number of people whose labour and payment is unrecorded and encourage more women to join the job market by making it possible for part-time self-employed women to pay a social security contribution on a pro-rata basis. This is set at 15% of basic earnings instead of the previous mandatory contribution based on the minimum wage regardless of pay and may act as an inducement for domestic cleaners to declare their work.