Covid 19 coronavirus: Unite Union open letter to Jacinda Ardern on wages paid to MIQ cleaners

Unite Union has issued a strong reprimand for salaries paid to staff who clean New Zealand’s MIQ hotels in an open letter to Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern.

Covid’s front-line hotel cleaners currently receive the minimum wage of $ 18.90 per hour, this despite the government’s commitment to ensuring that security personnel receive a living wage of $ 22.10.

“Dear Jacinda,

“Happy International Women’s Day.

“Ninety percent of the hotel workers that Unite Union represents are women.

“Hundreds of people currently work in managed isolation facilities.

“They carry the security of a nation on their shoulders every day.

“They are struggling with heavy workloads and low wages.

“The vast majority do not have and will never own a home.

“The vast majority cannot, and will never be able to ‘move forward’ unless we do something about it.

“The theme of this year’s International Women’s Day is ‘choose to challenge’, this year we should choose to challenge the status quo.

“These workers are so brave, can we match their bravery?

“The government has shown that it can raise workers to a living wage. It has done it with other workers, such as security personnel at the MIQ facilities. Why has it not done it with these hotel workers?

“Our workers, their daughters and granddaughters deserve to grow up in a world where women, and the work that women do, is seen, valued and paid fairly.”

Unite Union National Secretary John Crocker previously told the Herald that hotel workers “have been forgotten.”

“The Government has proudly announced that it is paying all contracted cleaners, security and catering services a living wage, but at this time this does not include hotel staff.”

Crocker explains that the reason the security guards at MIQ facilities already earn a living wage is because they belong to the category of government contractors.

“MIQ Hotel workers are not contract cleaners, they are hotel workers and some are homemakers,” Crocker said.

Ultimately, this means that many of the cleaners currently performing the high-risk work of cleaning hotels are paid a minimum wage of $ 18.90 an hour.

An MIQ spokesperson told the Herald that at least two hotel providers have indicated to the government that they have or intend to pay their employees living wages, following discussions between the two parties.