Terrible treatment at the top
Jim Melvin, Chairman of the British Cleaning Council (BCC), discusses the poor treatment of cleaning staff in Downing Street.
The recent Sue Gray report into Downing Street parties contained some appalling revelations about the way cleaning staff were treated in Government. The report, which has become known as ‘partygate’, revealed how one cleaner had to scrub red wine from a wall after one of the parties that violated COVID restrictions.
She wrote: “I found that some staff had
witnessed or been subjected to behaviours at work which they had felt concerned about but at times felt unable to raise properly. I was made aware of multiple examples of a lack of respect and poor treatment of security and cleaning staff. This was unacceptable.”
It is absolutely appalling and upsetting to hear that cleaning staff were being treated with such contempt by people who sit within Government and the civil service. Cleaning staff are hardworking, professional, and deserve to be respected in their vital work, just like anyone one else, and certainly how the people concerned would expect to be treated.
This treatment came from people who are supposedly powerful, well-educated people who should be setting an example. People who, frankly, should know better – but clearly do not.
Instead, they abused the fortunate position they found themselves in and frankly looked down their noses at ordinary, hard-working people. Is it too much to expect politeness and a little appreciation for cleaning staff? No, it is not.
This happened during the COVID pandemic, when cleaning and hygiene staff were on the frontline in the fight against the virus, going out to work day after day, putting themselves at risk to maintain high standards of hygiene and to ensure that key workers and the public were safe and well during the pandemic.
In fact, the string of parties at Downing Street arguably might well have actually put some of the cleaning staff working there at risk of contracting the virus. In some
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parts of the cleaning industry, the demand for increased standards of hygiene during the pandemic has combined with severe staff shortages to drive many colleagues close to burnout.
So, what cleaning staff needed and deserved was support and recognition from the Government, not to be treated with such arrogance or disrespect. The Prime Minister did thank cleaning staff in Parliament during the pandemic, but that pales into insignificance when you consider how cleaning staff were actually being treated at the time.
Shortly after the Sue Gray report came out, I wrote to the Cabinet Secretary, Simon Case, to formally ask for a meeting to review in detail both these allegations and the steps that have been taken since to deal with them.
We’ve been trying to engage with the Government for around two years now on key issues affecting the sector and whilst we have had an acknowledgement from Mr Case, at the time of writing we await a meeting date.
Perhaps this dismissive attitude in Whitehall indicates why those in power have not yet listened to us.
We won’t stop trying to engage with Government until our key messages are understood. The Government will ultimately need to realise that the cleaning and hygiene sector is one of the biggest and most important in the UK, with skilled, professional, and trained staff.
The role of cleaning and hygiene personnel is frontline and essential to keeping the public healthy, safe, and well. The industry was a key component and absolutely vital during the fight against the COVID pandemic and is vital to returning to normality safely and hygienically, as well as being prepared for and helping to stop any future variant or pandemic.
If there’s one good thing to come out of the partygate scandal, it would be for the Government to give our industry the respect it deserves, and listen to what we have to say.
www.britishcleaningcouncil.org twitter.com/TomoCleaning
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