Despite a commitment from no less a person than the head of state himself, school cleaners are still waiting to be counted among those who earn the minimum wage.
All across the country, school cleaners like Drupatee Mohan earn $17,400 per month, which is not enough for any of them to live on.
“I am 59 and have no husband and children to take care of me. I here all day, cleaning after these picknies and get seventeen thousand and something whole month… What can that fuh me?” Mohan, the Cotton Tree Nursery School cleaner, told Stabroek News on Wednesday.
Mohan, who has been toiling for many years at the school, is due to retire next year.
However, the thought of a bleak future that awaits her is frightening and she wants to continue working.
“The salary small but it sure you know… I am praying now that when I come off next year they call me back because I could still work,” she said.
Just before the 2011 general elections, several of the workers had protested outside the Ministry of Finance and the Office of the President, where they lamented that their paltry salaries could barely meet the basic cost of living expenses, such as food, utilities and transportation for themselves and children.
As a result, the then president Bharrat Jagdeo met with them and promised to see that their work statuses were upgraded and they are paid at least the country’s minimum wage.
After the polls, Cabinet Secretary Dr Roger Luncheon subsequently said he would check on the status of the assurance by the former president.
He had emphasised the fact that salary increases and other monetary issues would have to be dealt with by the relevant employment agencies and the Ministry of Finance and noted that protocol would have to be followed before he could advise on the salary status of the workers.
In the case of school cleaners, the responsible agency would be the Ministry of Education. Efforts to contact acting Minister of Education Frank Anthony proved futile.
Stabroek News checked several city schools and spoke with cleaners, who, though very vocal, spoke on condition of anonymity.
At Woolford Avenue schools on Wednesday, the cleaners said that the work was at least a consistent source of employment and they were always paid on time.
However, they stated that all of them had supplemental incomes, be it from the fathers of their children, remittances or other jobs. “This government sick. When them and the opposition spend time to debate if Bharat (Jagdeo) should get one or two millions, they forget that we ‘till never see that in many moons and won’t even bring we up. That could fair? ” an elderly mother said.
A Berbice cleaner said that one time when she complained about her meagre earnings to a regional executive she was told that if she wanted more she should have gotten an education. “Me nah ask nothing no more.
Me ain’t want insult but when them politicians want yuh vote they come and promise you them gon fight fuh yuh and when they win you a hold wood,” she said.
Luncheon last week announced that government is to commence work on establishing a national minimum wage for workers both in the public and private sector. The present public sector minimum wage is $37,400 while the private sector’s is varied. “This initiative is an improvement, it is the ultimate improvement that binds employers across the scale to subscribe to a minimum wage no employee would earn less than, not just sectors but no employee,” Luncheon said.
Opposition Leader David Granger on Wednesday said that the main opposition APNU would support an across the board minimum wage for workers at $50,000 per month.
“We will support a $50,000 minimum wage because look at the cost of living… we believe the minimum wage should be constant for every person with steady employment [in] all sectors,” he said.
Meanwhile, AFC leader Khemraj Ramjattan said he has not given up on the plight of the school cleaners and vowed to tie the issue to the proposed national minimum wage when it comes up.
“We are lobbying for them to be paid at least minimum wage. The Finance Minister and the Minister of Education [have] said they are going to do something and we are going to be behind them… those cleaners ought to get a minimum wage. Their work is tough although menial,” he said.
