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