SINGAPORE: Cleaning companies which want to land
contracts with the government will have to show that they are
committed to paying their workers more, under the labour movement's
progressive wage model.
The wage model, which gives 'wage points' to
cleaners who pick up new and better skills, is a new criteria that
companies must meet to get accredited under the voluntary Clean
Mark Accreditation Scheme.
The scheme will take effect in November and
companies have until April next year to get accredited.
The scheme was set up in July 2010 to recognise companies that
deliver high standards of cleaning by training workers and using
equipment to improve work processes, as well as ensure fair
employment practices to raise standards and professionalism in the
cleaning industry.
Companies can apply for either the Clean Mark Silver or Clean Mark
Gold award, depending on their ability to fulfil the different sets
of accreditation criteria.
The certification is valid for one year and the National
Environment Agency (NEA) will assess them.
Other criteria have also been added, such paying salary through
GIRO unless otherwise requested by workers, as well as appointing a
Productivity Manager to improve work processes.
These managers will undergo a customised training programme
emphasising technology adoption and work process redesign,
developed by NEA together with the Workforce Development Agency
(WDA).
Other enhanced criteria state that a company must not have
defaulted on Labour Court Orders in the past twelve months
preceding the certification, and have attained qualifications in
the requisite bizSAFE courses.
The Ministry of Manpower (MOM), NEA and WDA said in a joint
statement on Friday that the enhanced accreditation scheme aims to
help companies put in place proper structures and systems,
especially in human resources and training.
The scheme will also increase the productivity of the cleaning
sector by encouraging companies to use technology and redesign
their work processes to optimise their manpower.
As the government has earlier announced that it will eventually
license all cleaning companies, accredited cleaning companies will
be better prepared. Currently, there are 61 accredited service
providers under this scheme, most of which are medium to large
firms.
But companies should not associate the enhanced criteria with
higher costs.
Second Minister for Environment and Water Resources, Grace Fu,
said: "If you have a systematic way of going about your cleaning
processes using the right equipment, the right tools and solutions,
I think you can improve the personal productivity of the cleaner.
And we hope the wages can go up in tandem with productivity
improvement, in tandem with training. So this will help mitigate
the rising wages and costs of cleaning contracts."
To get more companies on board, WDA will commit S$6.1 million
towards training close to 8,000 cleaners for offices, shopping
centres, schools and hawkers centres over two years.
The labour movement also has schemes to help companies defray the
cost of equipment.
A sum of S$9 million has been set aside under e2i's Inclusive
Growth Programme.
The programme was launched in August 2010, it co-funds projects
such as purchase of equipment for automation, work processes
re-engineering, intellectual property rights registration, and
workers training.
This is dispensed on condition that the company's productivity
gains are shared with the workers.
Cleaning companies said that while the current accreditation scheme
has resulted in more skilled workers, having to meet the enhanced
criteria will have its challenges.
Mr Milton Ng, who is director of Ramky Cleantech Services, said: "I
think the major challenge we face is the tight labour market. As
much as we want to train the workers, there are insufficient time
and shortages so we have to take staff out for training which
sometimes is a bit difficult."
He added: "It is not impossible to achieve. But from an industry
viewpoint, if all the companies strive to do that, it will make
this industry what I call a 'recession-free' industry - for people
to continue to join this industry to find a good and decent paying
job."
But Mr Ng hopes that efforts to professionalise the cleaning
industry will go some way towards changing negative
perceptions.
The cleaning industry, which has about 70,000 workers, has been
plagued by problems such as low wages, manpower shortages, and
cheap-sourcing.
- CNA/fa