Politicians and staffers will arrive to dirty offices on Monday morning with cleaners at Parliament House set to strike for 24 hours.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
The cleaners who work for Limro Cleaning Services and are represented by the United Voice union voted unanimously to take industrial action on Tuesday.
The industrial action, which will take on the first day of a sitting week, allows workers to to refuse to clean certain areas of Parliament House, wear union clothing, and refuse to cover colleagues on leave.
With their existing contract set to expire at the end of the month, the 41 cleaners have sought an additional $1.80 per hour with bargaining negotiations beginning in mid-2014.
When Parliament House first opened there were more than 100 cleaners for the buildings 4700 rooms.
ACT Branch Secretary of United Voice secretary Lyndal Ryan said Parliament House could not function without cleaners.
"The Prime Minister and the Treasurer seem to have lost touch with the reality of life for ordinary Australians," she said.
"I hope the unanimous vote by Parliament House cleaners for this 24-hour strike is a wake-up call to the Abbott Government."
The cleaners, almost half of whom are from overseas with 64 per cent 40 years or older, are currently paid $21.10 an hour and are seeking $22.90 in their new agreement.
United Voice has calling for wage increases to be consistent with those set out in the Commonwealth Cleaning Guidelines, which were scrapped in 2014 as part of the government's war on red tape.
"The cleaners' pay is frozen at the July 2013 rate of $21.10 per hour instead of $22.90 which they would receive if the Commonwealth Cleaning Services Guidelines had not been repealed by the Government," a United Voice spokeswoman said.
Many of the cleaners have been working at Parliament House since it opened in 1988 and are tasked with cleaning all areas of the massive building including the Prime Minister's office.
The strike action will coincide with the announcement of the 2015 Golden Toilet Brush awards, which is presented to the person who has done the least to promote the cause of cleaners.
Last year, Tony Abbot became the first prime minister to get the award for his role in removing the cleaning services guidelines.
Ms Ryan said it was shameful the government had "orchestrated this dramatic decline in the cleaning industry".
"Like their colleagues who look after other Government buildings, Parliament House cleaners are bitterly disappointed by the Government's apparent indifference to the lives of their cleaners," she said.
