Cleaners' pay rises as their numbers go down

Labour crunch in private estates worsening, say condo managers

By Lua Jia Min & Bryna Sim, The Straits Times, 10 Sep 2012

BRADDELL View is not the only estate facing a shortage of cleaners, according to condominium managers.

The 920-unit Housing and Urban Development Council (HUDC) estate made headlines last Thursday when its management committee sent a letter to residents asking for volunteers to help clean up the estate.

Stringent rules on hiring foreigners and the rising cost of cleaning services have contributed to the estate's increasingly unkempt state, explained the committee. The estate has 17 cleaners.

The move has sparked outrage among residents, who pay a monthly maintenance fee of $220.

Condo managers told The Straits Times that the shortage of cleaners in private estates has worsened in the past year.

Often, condo cleaners are hired by a cleaning agency. For example, Lakeview Estate (photo) at Upper Thomson Road, a former HUDC estate which has been privatised, has just four cleaners to maintain its grounds. Mr Albert Har, manager of the 240-unit estate, said: "The cleaners are a bit stretched."

One reason for the labour crunch is the rising cost of hiring cleaners, said condo managers.

Mr Rajah A. Rajah, who manages Cote d'Azur in Marine Parade, said cleaning costs have increased 20 per cent to 30 per cent over the past year. "It has been very difficult for us to work within the budget. Costs have gone up, but we don't want to raise the fees for residents," he added.

To keep residents' fees low yet meet rising cleaning costs, the management of Costa Rhu condo scaled back on other spending such as upgrading of facilities. Its property officer Kamar Hamzah said the 737-unit Tanjong Rhu estate has raised maintenance fees just once in the past decade - from $289 to $320 in 2009.

Mr Rajah said: "The boards don't want to raise management fees because they are scared that residents will complain."

Mr Har said if Lakeview's current contractor charges more after its two-year contract expires, it will look to others quoting less.

But he added that this may not be ideal: "Some agencies may break the contract if they can't afford to absorb the rising cost any more, and we will have to look again for another contractor."

Cleaning companies said the increase in cleaners' pay is mostly due to more stringent foreign worker quotas and higher levies imposed by the Manpower Ministry. From July, foreigners must make up only 45 per cent of a company's staff in the cleaning sector, down from half previously.

According to ISS Facility Services' country managing director Woon Chiap Chan, condo cleaners now earn between $800 and $1,000 a month, up from $600 at the start of last year. He said: "We have had a lot of problems finding people now since foreign workers form a big part of the cleaning sector."

Foreigners make up one-third of ISS's 6,000 cleaning staff.

Singaporeans' reluctance to work in the cleaning sector is also a factor. Said Mr Milton Ng, president of the Environmental Management Association of Singapore: "The cleaning industry is often the lowest on people's list of considerations."

Singaporeans who take up jobs are mostly in their 60s, said Mr Lim Chin Boon, managing director of Clean Solutions. "The turnover rate is very high because these people don't work with us for long," he said.

Meanwhile, some condo residents have noticed a drop in cleanliness standards.

Said housewife Alice Chong, 36, who has lived in Lakeview for five years: "Sometimes, the bins are overflowing with rubbish and fallen leaves are everywhere. You can't make sure everything is clean with only four cleaners."