Over the past months, Focus on Labour Exploitation (FLEX), the Latin American Women’s Rights Service (LAWRS) and the East European Resource Centre (EERC) have been busy running a project to help prevent labour exploitation in the UK’s cleaning sector, in collaboration with the Gangmasters and Labour Abuse Authority (GLAA). Together, these organisations have been working with cleaners and community organisations across the country to improve understanding of the complexity of labour exploitation in the cleaning sector and foster collaborations between supporting organisations and labour market enforcement.
New specialist resources for workers in the cleaning sector
FLEX has been delivering training sessions in London, Manchester, Birmingham and Edinburgh, bringing together GLAA officers, statutory services, and local organisations supporting cleaners from all backgrounds, to build their understanding of key employment rights, risks and indicators of labour exploitation in cleaning work, and how to access advice and support.
Alongside these training sessions, LAWRS and EERC have been running an awareness-raising campaign, via both digital platforms and physical outreach, targeted directly at cleaners from two groups – Eastern Europeans and Latin Americans – who make up a large proportion of the UK’s cleaning workforce. This campaign includes resources about workers’ rights and avenues to accessing support in five languages (English, Polish, Portuguese, Romanian and Spanish).
