Taking my life for every penny: working as a cleaner in London

Este blog se basa en una entrevista con Maritza, editada por Maayan Niezna para el blog del Centro St. Joseph. Una versión en español del texto está disponible aquí .

Maritza, a manager at Clean for Good, writes:

I have about 25 years of experience working for cleaning companies. I have seen situations of tremendous exploitation. Companies that demand you work 24 hours, 7 days a week. Sometimes you have to work in the early hours of the morning in the middle of winter. This work doesn't see you as a human person; they see you as a number, a way to make a profit. And if you can't do it, then they don't treat you well. The cleaners live on a very low salary and are not paid fairly. In one way or another, companies always look for an excuse to steal.

As a cleaning manager in a company, I felt like the job was taking my life for every penny. I couldn't even go home. There were days when, for example, I arrived at a site and there was no cleaner. They decided not to come to work because they never received their payment, and of course, I had to clean the entire building alone. Little by little, I experienced more exploitation. Now you have to do more, you have to go this way, you have to go there. Now you have to travel to the outskirts. I had to leave home at 3 in the morning, and if I returned home, I returned at 11 or 12 at night. There were many times when I was so far away that I couldn't just wrap up and come back. So I stayed in the workplace. Or I stayed in the car until it cleared up a little and continued working because it was impossible to return. There was no time. I worked on Sunday, which was supposed to be the only day off. I felt like my faith was destroyed because for two years, I couldn't go back to the Church and had to do reporting instead.

When I talked to the cleaners, their situation was even worse. Their small salary would go each week to pay for a room they couldn’t afford, or for a bus ticket for the week to go to work. They didn't have money for that either. Some cleaners told me they haven't eaten for 2 days. And they were waiting to receive the salary to be able to eat or to be able to pay for their room. They had nowhere to go to sleep. When I talked to the bosses about it, they saw me as an enemy. They wanted people to work without mercy, without any remorse, without any value. The exploitation was terrible. That's how they become rich people, because poor people are the fountains they squeeze out. It's what we have to do for them, unfortunately.

Maritza (right), manager at Clean for Good, and fellow cleaner Maria (Photo: CMS)

But after my bad experiences, I have come out to Clean for Good. For me it was like opening a door to heaven. Everything is completely different. They see you as a human person and treat you as such. Just, fair pay. It is a Christian human company that treats all people fairly. The schedule is flexible, there is sick pay, holiday pay, the salary is paid on time, people have time for breaks and time for their family and private life. It helps people feel more relaxed and not feel exploited. We can work with a calm mind because we have a guarantee, we have stability in this company. The company was founded by board members of different churches, and it was created as a charity. And what I've loved while I've been working here is that while obviously no one is pressured to have the faith, we follow or try to implement what Christ Jesus taught us, right? And based on that, that's why people are treated with honour, with respect, with love. We understand the conditions, and on the other hand, treating people fairly is about justice. When we talk about Christianity and faith, we're talking about a righteous and fair world.

Read about Dr Maayan Niezna's research on labour exploitation among cleaners here.

You can find out more about Clean for Good here.