AIBU to think this a little bit like exploitation?

[tittytittyhanghang]

Had to book a cleaning firm (not for me). Was given a quote. Cleaners were sent round and carried out work. Got speaking to the workers and it turns out that they were getting mw whilst the company charged more than 3 times this. And the poor cleaners didnt even get paid for travelling from job to job. She told me that whilst she had done a 10 hour day, she only got paid for 6 actually hours of cleaning. I kinda felt a bit sad that the actual workers doing the hard labour were getting probably the least out of it (financially). I got the distinct impression that this was just a stop gap job. (She was trained in something else but unable to get employment in that area), and she took this job out of lack of choice of other employment.

Isn't it the same with most unskilled jobs?

Erm. Yeah?

unfortunately most staff that are employed through an agency are treated this way, and it is often cleaners, carers and others that do really quite phisically hard work that get paid the least

It's the same with any temp agencies, not just unskilled workers, actually.

Yes, not good. Rough for them, especially the non payment for travelling time. But without knowing the costs of the company who employs them it is difficult to judge. (Insurance, marketing costs, cleaning products, N.I payments, phone bills, premises, accounting , sick pay????). I work freelance and the number of hours I do working on things which come to nothing or on invoicing, accounting and chasing unpaid debts mean that I am often working for minimum wage.

This wasn't a temp ageny, but a company that offered cleaning services. But i guess its similar to an agency. It just seems sad to me that people are doing a physically laborious job and someone else is profitting from their hard work. I get that its generally unskilled workers like cleaners/carers etc.

This is no news op. One could say that the Agency has all the expenses and responsibilities.
Depends where you live but private work cleaning houses usually pays more.

Everyone charges more than what it costs them, nothing new.

How did you book them? Did they advertise? Do they have someone in the office that handled the call? I expect that that's where a lot of the costs go. And whoeveer set up the business wnats a return on their money/ risk. BUT YANBU to think that it is a little like exploitation as the people doing the jobs don't get much out of it and are likely to be seen as dispensible. As others have said it is low-skilled workers who profit least from their own hard work.

Same is true of higher paid workers too. Dh gets rented out to other companies for 4-5x what he gets to take home. He's a computer consultant.
However he gets paid when they're low in work, or high in work, so they're getting the risk, he gets a steady wage.

Of course someone else is profiting from their hard work

Why would they bother going to all the time and expense of starting their own business and employing people if they didn't?

unskilled/low skilled = getting the piss taken out off you and there is little/nothing you can do about it , except"walk". which is no good at all really. capitalist system and all that ! i worked in an agency in L ONDON YEARS AGO 90% of workers as i was to find had overstayed there visa , boss would quote them an hourly rate then change(lower)it once they went on shift and if anyone complained basically said "so sue me then"big agency in the south east , very successful.

I booked a spring clean for a day,s work and paid 200 quid. I was shocked when the owner of the agency turned up with a van and let the cleaner out the back of it and he collected him at the end and put him in he back instead of sitting in the passenger seat, guy spoke no english. I felt he was an exploited legal immigrant and i am pretty sure the company were not paying tax etc. So god knows how much profit the were making from him. I have never used an agenycy since

Sorry, illegal

All businesses charge out staff for more than their hourly rate. That's how businesses make a profit.

If the business was to charge minimum wage then they would make a loss. To cover costs usually you need to double the hourly rate at least - to cover non-billable hours, holiday pay, employers ni, overheads etc.

Stella1w

If you thought that your cleaner was an illegal immigrant, did you report the employer to the 'authorities'? If not, why not?

No, because i had no proof, just a nasty feeling because of the way the cleaning agency man was behaving. Since then i have never used an agency.