Pay below the minimum wage, discrimination and anxiety about being sacked are the biggest problems faced by immigrants. “The invisible workforce: employment practices in the cleaning sector” report collects statements and figures on the workers and cleaning companies in England, Scotland and Wales.
Virginia Moreno Molina
Cleaning the UK is the responsibility of about 446,000 people, of whom 30% are immigrants.
In this sector the sexist situation seems not to change, as the great majority are women, 79% according to the Active Population Survey.
These figures mean that the cleaning sector contributes more than £8 million a year to the British economy. But these benefits are not being recognised, given the questionable conditions which people find in their places of work. “We don’t get any respect or support from our supervisors, and the company employees shout at us, because we are not seen as human beings. We are afraid to complain in case we are sacked”, says a Czech woman, talking about her typical daily experience in a cleaning company.
This statement, along with a detailed account of experience in this area of work, is found in the report “The invisible workforce: employment practices in the cleaning sector”.
The report collects statements and figures on the workers and cleaning companies in England, Scotland and Wales. It also looks in detail at the failure to conform to international employment standards, and reveals the daily life of cleaners, the great majority of whom are immigrants.
The surveys carried out with workers explain some of the most commonly held opinions about why immigrants choose to do this work.
It highlights the ease of being able to get a job, and on the other hand the fact that qualifications obtained in other countries are not recognised in the UK. In addition language continues to be a determining factor, as there is no minimum requirement for a cleaner.
The report was produced by the Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC), which is accredited by the UN.
Dignity, respect and discrimination
“Last week she criticised me in front of other people, treating me very badly. I didn’t say anything. I didn’t say I was hrt by what she was saying. If you’ve made a mistake, discuss it in private.
Having all those people listening to what she was saying made me feel ashamed. There were maybe 16 people listening to her insulting me for 15 or 20 minutes, and everyone was looking at me, while she kept going on and on.”
This was a Somali man talking about his supervisor.
And although the 2010 Equality Law protects workers from discrimination, and the Health and Safety at Work Act of 1974 helps to ensure safe conditions, humiliations seem to be a daily feature of the life of many workers.
Despite this, clients and supervisors have stated their opinions that this does not happen, saying that workers are well treated.
On the other hand, and although this is not the case generally, discrimination also happens in the cases of women who are pregnant. Many of them speak of being badly treated, and even sacked after becoming pregnant.
Immigrants even suffer discrimination from some clients of their employers. An employee in Glasgow said that some clients specify that they don’t wantimmigrant workers.
The business of minorities and older people
In the case of the UK, ethnic minorities are more employed in this sector than in any other. Surprisingly they represent 10% of this workforce in the UK as a whole, 16% in England and 44% in Greater London.
At the same time the proportion of older people in this work sector is higher than elsewhere, as the following figures show: the 45 to 54 yrs age group makes up 26%, and those over 55 yrs 22%, while people younger than 25 account for only 11%.
Some of the abuses are reflected in the treatment these people receive and the situations they have to put up with at work.
An example is a group of workers aged about 65, who received notice of dismissal. According to their supervisor they were too old to work, and the only way they could remain in their jobs was to accept a cut of 50 pence and hour in their wages.
Schedule and payments
According to the workers interviewed, their pay varied between £5.00 and £7.50 an hour in the private sector, while in the public sector the range was £6.31 to £9.00 an hour.
This shows that some employees in the private sector are paid less than the statutory minimum wage of £6.31 an hour.
In any case these figures are mostly less than the Living Wage of £8.80 an hour in London and £7.65 in the rest of the UK. The Living Wage is calculated on the basis that it is the minimum that a person needs in order to cover the basic costs of living.
On top of this many workers experience problems of not receiving the whole amount of their wages, or even not being paid at all. And in the leisure sector, despite there being a fixed rate of hourly pay, in practice this depends on the number of rooms that each employee is responsible for.
“Just think about the amount of work that one person can do; it isn’t humanly possible to do what they ask in such a short time, and carry on for years. It damages your health”, explained one Bolivian worker.
In terms of holidays and time off due to illness, the situation is worse. The amount of pressure that workers feel when they are sick leads many of them to carry on going to work for fear of being sacked. This amounts to an infraction of their legal rights to absence.
In addition, holiday pay and overtime pay have been questioned, as in many cases they have no right to them, and often work extra hours without being paid.
And although this phenomenon, like ‘zero hours contracts’ is not happening everywhere, it can be found in the leisure and hospitality sectors, where the practice is more frequent.
Problems in the environment
Understanding the contract is essential when choosing a job, especially so as to avoid misunderstandings in the future. But one of the most common problems that immigrants face is that contracts are rarely translated at the time of signing.
This causes confusion and errors over payments, working conditions, and the right to holidays.
The tensions that exist between different nationalities in the same company, especially between immigrants and British workers, also contribute to making relationships difficult. And this also applies to different immigrant nationalities.
A Lithuanian woman spoke about feeling an outsider because her colleagues were all Spanish speakers, and ignored her in preference to people from their own country.
Supervisors and Trade Unions
“I used to go to work crying. When we complained they gave us even more to do. When you are working as fast as you possibly can, and can’t do any more, people don’t complain”, said a Bolivian cleaner.
And although the great majority of companies say that they facilitate means of communication between the company’s employees, there are some workers who are afraid of losing their jobs or being punished in other ways if they express their demands.
Neither are trade unions encouraged in this sector, although they are not prohibited. Even so, some people have been discriminated against for their involvement in unions.
Despite many aspects of conditions at work being covered, other rights are being weakened.
According to Mark Hammond, executive president of the Equality and Human Rights Commision, “this study shows the ways in which companies are currently failing to protect the fundamental rights of their workers in the cleaning sector”.
(Translated by Graham Douglas – Email: Catalysistranslations@outlook.com) – Photos: Pixabay
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