Federation is calling for school and TAFE cleaners to transition to direct government employment.
“We need a system that doesn’t treat them as outsourced outsiders,” a unanimous decision from Federation’s June Council states.
If employed directly by the government, school and TAFE cleaners would be better positioned to be granted the time, equipment and supplies they need to meet the demands of today’s schools, considering the number and diversity of student enrolments and complexity and size of buildings; factors which are not adequately considered in the cleaning contracts model.
“We must make sure that cleaning in every school, including those in high growth areas where overcrowding and the use of demountable classrooms are common, are adequately resourced and staffed,” the Council decision also states.
Federation has long acknowledged how essential cleaners are to the public education community and supported their fight against the low pay, terrible conditions and impossible workloads that come with working for private contractors.
The sector was first privatised back in 1994, and contracting companies now pay the fifth highest workers compensation premiums in NSW because of the number of accidents occurring as a direct result of unsafe practices.
Schools have reported significant and ongoing declines in standards ever since outsourcing began.
Federation’s motion noted how additional cleaning during COVID, which both government and private contractors had previously deemed impossible, reminded staff and students of the standards of cleaning school communities should rightly have.
United Workers Union NSW Secretary and National Director Mel Gatfield briefed Federation’s June Council meeting on its long-running campaign to end the outsourcing model.
In February this year, the United Workers Union stated companies were engaging in a “race-to-the-bottom” to be awarded contracts and then “systematically” cutting costs further “in order to make a profit”.
Every time contracts change hands, cleaners risk losing their entitlements and already poor conditions of employment, as they are forced to reapply for their jobs.
UWU research findings show the workforce is mostly comprised of women (59 per cent) aged over 45 (61 per cent), with 37.5 per cent identifying as culturally/linguistically diverse and just under three per cent identifying as Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander.
In a speech to the Inaugural Anti-slavery Forum, held in Sydney on 21 and 22 May this year, Dr James Cockayne, the NSW Anti-slavery Commissioner, warned the government that arrangements for the state’s 7000 public school cleaners pose a serious modern slavery risk.
Senior Officers will make representations to the Education Minister on this critical matter. Federation branches and associations are being asked to carry motions in support of school/TAFE cleaners, the provision of secure work, safe workloads, and the end to the privatisation of cleaning services in public schools and TAFEs.