At first I was horrified to discover my birthday, June 15, is International Cleaners Day. It felt like a sign that I have to go back to that terrible work. It was my mum who told me, she heard it on the radio. She confessed she wasn’t sure if she should mention it to me. I was not impressed. I did not want the association. But now I’ve looked it up and it’s not such a bad thing. (Although I still wish it was on another day!) I got the name wrong it’s actually International Justice for Cleaners Day. Let me cut and paste the information I found out about it.
The annual rallies around International Justice for Cleaners Day grew out of an ugly incident on June 15, 1990, in Los Angeles when police beat immigrant cleaners protesting the way a multi-national cleaning company was treating them in a CBD office block.
This incident provoked public outrage in the USA and abroad. Pressure from cleaners who belonged to unions in other countries helped force the contract cleaner to finally sit down, negotiate and show some respect and decency when talking with their workers.
Since then - for nearly two decades now - June 15 has become a focal point for organising cleaners in campaigns and celebrations across several continents.
I don’t know the etiquette for references online but here’s the website: http://indymedia.org.nz/newswire/display/46177/index.php
I wish I knew about it when I was a cleaner; mind you I was pretty pissed off already living the experience. And to be honest I’m not sure if I would have gone to a rally if I knew about any that may have been on in Melbourne. I didn’t even know there was a union for cleaners until near the end of working for Spotless. I still feel guilty that I didn’t join but I knew at the time I was leaving soon and wanted to save what money I could. Then again someone could have told me about the union sooner. (That’s just the guilt talking).
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