Cleaning staff at Moama’s Tasman Holiday Park, Moama on the Murray, have walked off the job claiming a “difficult” working environment had caused the mass walkout.
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Veronica Smith, who was the manager of the caravan park cleaning crew at the park for the past two years, said a disagreement between her and management had led to part of the cleaning team’s decision to resign.
She was speaking to The Riv from a hastily arranged “final drinks” meeting of the cleaning crew, who quit on Friday afternoon.
Tasman Holiday Parks Chief Executive Officer Nikki Milne told The Riv the company was very conscious of health, safety and wellbeing of staff and visitors.
“A thorough review has been undertaken, independent of the park’s management structure, and we will continue to support staff in maintaining a safe and rewarding work environment.”
She said the company had made a strong commitment to its Moama parks, completing a significant refurbishment.
“We have a strong whistleblower policy. There have been some complaints and we undertook an independent investigation,” Ms Milne said.
“We did that with our HR team, who interviewed all the relevant parties.
“We did a detailed investigation and it was not undertaken by the management team.
“We didn’t make the decision to terminate anybody, but at the end of the day some people made the decision not to continue.
“We made the findings of that investigation available to everyone.”
She said the the company was aware there were some staff that had some concerns, but no-one had enacted the whistleblower policy.
“It’s a matter we take very seriously,” Ms Milne said.
Mrs Smith said 14 cleaners followed her out the door when she quit her role as manager of the cleaning crew.
That figure was disputed by the Tasman Parks chief executive officer, who said the number of cleaners who had decided not to continue with the company was distorted.
“It’s certainly not 14, it’s not 10,” Ms Milne said.
Tasman Holiday Parks also operates Merool on the Murray, but that caravan park has its own cleaning staff.
Tasman Holiday Parks took over the operation of Moama on the Murray late last year.
Mrs Smith said she was humbled by the fact most of her cleaning team had “walked with me”, and she would be starting her own local cleaning company.
“Moving forward, my team are joining forces under our newly emerging business, Twin Rivers Cleaning Agency,” she said.
“We plan to not only specialise in builders’ final cleaning and domestic cleaning, but we also want to support other holiday parks where there are shortages of cleaning staff.”
She said she was hopeful her team could help accommodation providers get through the busy period, so guests would not have holiday bookings delayed.
“We believe our team could take off the pressure, so front-of-house staff won’t be required to put out spot fires when guests are waiting to check in,” Mrs Smith said.
The Riv last year ran a series of articles that underlined the shortage of cleaning staff at holiday venues — many workers had sought other employment because of the uncertainty in the industry because of ongoing travel restrictions.
Mrs Smith also runs her own Melbourne-based cleaning business and said she had been so upset by the ongoing problems she had experienced with her former employer that she was forced to take the drastic action.
Two other employees who resigned said they had followed Mrs Smith’s lead after being unsatisfied with working conditions.
They had both worked at the site for more than two years.
According to Mrs Smith, the caravan park was left with a severely reduced cleaning crew to complete duties.
“It is going to be difficult for them. They are booked out very weekend for the next little while,” she said.
Caravan parks in the Echuca-Moama region have been crying out for cleaning staff since the middle of last year, some offering free on-site accommodation to incentivise people into the cleaning roles.
Mrs Smith said she understood just how vital the cleaning staff were, as she had been working 12-hour days since November last year.
“We were responsible for 130 villas and 12 glamping tents,” she said.
"I have built this team, so it was a very difficult situation.”
She said her team had regularly received the highest feedback on their cleaning, through customer satisfaction forms.
"We had had a high standard of cleaning, often receiving 10 out of 10 from guests regarding the cleanliness of the cabins,” she said.
While the Twin Rivers business finds its feet, Mrs Smith said she would continue to run Diamond Valley Cleaning Agency.
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