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SINGAPORE: Amid falling wages in the cleaning industry, Singapore's labour movement on Wednesday set up a S$2-million scheme to boost salary and employment prospects for cleaners.
In general, cleaners have seen their wages fall in the last decade, and Singapore's labour chief Lim Swee Say hopes to reverse that.
A Manpower Ministry report last year showed that salaries of cleaners, labourers and other low-wage workers either fell or remained stagnant from a decade ago. A 2006 report stated that cleaners and labourers saw a 30 per cent drop in take-home pay as compared to 10 years ago.
Said Mr Lim: "The cleaners of Singapore deserve more decent work, and more decent pay. That's the bottomline.
"We must transform our cleaners in Singapore so that more and more of you can become skilled workers, professional workers, and most importantly, respected workers".
Three years ago, the National Trades Union Congress (NTUC) and its partners launched the Best Sourcing Initiative (BSI) to encourage cleaning firms to factor in cost of training their workers and paying their CPF when bidding for a contract.
Said Woon Chiap Chan, country managing director for cleaning company ISS Facility Services: "If a contract is properly priced or properly awarded by a buyer, then it gives service providers a lot of leeway to pay cleaners better.
"It gives a lot of opportunities for the service provider to invest back into the contract... be it in staff training, mechanisation or automation."
The scheme has seen the biggest success among service buyers in the public sector such as NParks and the PAP town councils, and NTUC said this has led to higher salaries for cleaners.
For instance, cleaners engaged by the town councils are paid about S$1,000 a month, a two-third increase from the S$600 they received before the BSI.
However, NTUC said response from those in the private sector remains low.
Hence, it is dangling a S$2-million carrot to get private companies to look beyond the cheapest deal when awarding a tender.
The cash incentive is capped at S$75,000 per contract.
Said Dennis Foo, deputy general manager of the Bishan-Toa Payoh Town Council: "If you pay too low a price, these contractors will somehow cut corners. So when they cut corners ultimately it's the workers who suffer. So it leads on that if the workers suffer, their performance suffer, and our residents also not happy."
The BSI Early Adopters Scheme is funded by the Workforce Development Agency, and will be administered by NTUC's Employment and Employability Institute (e2i) and the movement's Unit for Contract and Casual Workers.
For a start, it will target companies in the Cleaning, Building Maintenance, Security and Landscaping Sectors.
Efforts are also being made to improve the working conditions of cleaners.
Injuries from trips, slips and falls are among some of the most common risks cleaners face at work while those in specialist industries suffer potential dangers including chemical burns and cancer-causing toxins.
Hence, authorities have, for the first time, produced a set of safety guidelines on what these hazards are, and how to avoid them.
The guidelines provide cleaning contractors and companies with technical information and tips on workplace safety and health practices for cleaning activities. These include identifying work hazards and preventive measures that can be used by employers and workers.
Cleaners were also on Wednesday honoured with their very own day for the first time in Singapore.
- CNA/yb
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