by Sean Canty, Director, CAM Specialist Support
With the EU referendum date finally approaching and facts scarce to non-existent, a decision on whether to vote in or out basically comes down to how keen you are to gamble.
Do you stick with what we know or twist and see what the future can bring us? I’d love to supply you with hard-hitting facts that mean you know what’s best, but as the politicians and experts can’t, I’m afraid that’s just not going to happen. Anyone from either side who is claiming to know the future should either be using their powers for a greater purpose (world peace? winning lottery numbers?) or is wrong.
What I can do is say is that we work with a number of prestigious property managing agents and many have expressed concerns about international clients abandoning London in the event of a vote to leave the EU. London’s place in the financial system will surely be put at risk if Brexit is the chosen path. Why would banks and other multinationals want to be based here if we’re outside the EU?
We know that London is one of the financial capitals of the world and the sleek offices and commercial buildings from Battersea to Canary Wharf are testament to that. As with any industry, there are many subsidiary businesses reliant on their success. In this case the companies that sell suits or sandwiches are just the start.
For our company, a successful financial sector means there are plenty of opportunities to provide commercial building maintenance and high level cleaning services. Those shiny architectural monuments to commercial accomplishment don’t clean themselves you know!
Migration is obviously a contentious issue, with both sides making claim and counter-claim. The cleaning industry is heavily reliant on migrant workers and if there were to be a reduction in the people available to work in the sector, the impact on our city, and indeed our country, could be huge.
We have long sought to make the cleaning industry more attractive to quality applicants, to show it as the place of entrepreneurship and opportunity that it is. Without a sufficient pool of workers to recruit from, standards on cleaning are likely to drop, with a negative impact on our living and working conditions.
Maybe, by opting to stick, we’ll be missing out on a glorious future, but I can’t help thinking that in this case sticking with what we know could be the trump card!