Grocery Chain Eliminates Cleaning Staff

Should regular company staff be expected to take on cleaning tasks during a pandemic? Workers at Tesco, one of the United Kingdom’s largest supermarkets, are being tasked with cleaning toilets, shelves, and floors at 2,000 of its stores after the company cut its contract cleaning staff, European Cleaning Journal reports.

Tesco management said it conducted a trial and found that giving stores more ownership and control of the cleaning responsibilities, rather than relying on contract staff, resulted in better results and more consistent standards. Management said it will increase its budget for cleaning products and give staff time to complete their cleaning duties.

However, workers’ rights representatives say Tesco staff are already overloaded and exhausted. According to reps, expecting staff to take over cleaning responsibilities during a pandemic is not only unfair to them, it is a risk to the safety of everyone in the stores.