The Australia and New Zealand campaign is part of a global push by union workers in the cleaning and security industry.

Global strategy can really make a difference - we can change the world
Major campaigns are underway or about to start in the USA, the UK, the Netherlands, Germany, Poland, India, Brazil and South Africa.

Speaking at a recent co-ordinating meeting of cleaning and security unions the chair of the conference, Tom Balanoff, called on union participants to "really make a difference, let’s change the world.

“The world is getting richer and richer, but workers are being pushed down further and further," Tom Balanoff told the union delegates.

A small number of multinationals are increasingly dominating the security and cleaning industries. Unions can work together globally to match global employer strategies
“ Unions can reverse declining membership trends and work together at a global level to tackle increasingly global companies.

"We have to figure out who are the corporations we are going to target globally and campaign to hold them accountable for the crimes they are waging on workers," Tom Balanoff said.


The 'Clean Start - Fair Deal for Cleaners' campaign aims to provide a voice to the low-waged largely immigrant female workforce, in cities across Australia and New Zealand, who are calling on big property owners to support
decency in their workplaces. Cleaners all around the world are in a precarious position with low paid and casual work the result of employers
competing against each other on the price of labour. These members are a core part of our union's membership. We're not prepared to sit back and watch cleaners live on poverty wages and we realise that a global problem calls for a global solution. That's why we're campaigning to win decent pay rates and conditions with unions worldwide. But nothing we do will be enough. We need your help, and the support of the community as a whole.


Build up to the launch - what's happening and how you can get involved On the weekend nearly 200 cleaners met in Sydney, Canberra, Perth, Adelaide, Brisbane, Auckland and Wellington to plan for the Australia and New Zealand
launch on April 20. This week activists from the SFWU will be postering and leafleting in the city and around the suburbs. We'll also be leafleting at the Otara and Avondale markets this weekend. Can you help?

Get involved: If you can put some posters up in your local shopping centre, or want to help with leafleting at the markets, email kirsty.mccully (at) sfwu.org.nz


Launch details - make sure it's in your diary, and please let your
family, friends and colleagues know

Auckland: 12 - 2pm, Methodist Mission, Queen St, Auckland Central - please note the time change for Auckland
Wellington: 12 - 2pm, Loaves and Fishes Hall, Cnr. Molesworth and Hill Street, Wellington.

There will be music, speakers and information about how everyone can be involved.

This is a significant union campaign and one that aims to have a real impact on the lives of low paid, predominantly women, workers and the lives of their families. We want you to be a part of it!

If you would like any more information, or can help with getting the launch message, please let me know.

In solidarity,
Kirsty McCully (Auckland)
Campaign Researcher / Lead Organiser
email: kirsty.mccully (at) sfwu.org.nz

The SFWU is an organising union. This means we're a collective of workers who are about improving the lives of workers and working for a fair and just society by organising for strength, power and unity on the job, in our
industries, our communities and society as a whole.