The Guyana Public Service Union is once again drawing attention to the plight of sweeper/cleaners attached to Public Schools.
Speaking with reporters at the union’s headquarters, union representatives accused the government of failing to act honourably and implement a 2013 Cabinet decision which called for sweeper/cleaners to be paid the government minimum wage. At that time the minimum wage was $35,000 per month, it has since been increased to $50 000 yet some cleaners are still being paid as little as $15,000 per month.
Alluding to the 50% increase which Cabinet ministers of government granted themselves soon after assuming office, President of the GPSU, Patrick Yarde said that a clear double standard is being utilized.
“How can they in their own circumstances see the need for such payment and not recognize the need in the cases of others?” Yarde asked, adding that he has been personally informed by the president that Minister of Finance Winston Jordan is responsible for resolving the issue.
Accompanied by cleaners from region 3,4,5,6 and 10, Yarde and other union representatives said that the plight of the Sweeper/Cleaners along with the lack of response from the government has now become a “badge of shame” for the APNU+AFC government which had promised faithfully to bring a measure of relief to the poor.
According to the GPSU, though the government has till now engaged the union in a protracted, meaningless and often downright diversionary exchange on the matter, it is not their intention to allow 2017 to witness yet another round of meaningless exchanges. Consequently they see the sky as the limit in their attempts to address in a timely manner an industrial matter which has become humanitarian.
“The sky’s the limit. I get very emotional when I speak about this. I even sent off a letter earlier this week saying we never thought there should be an issue in addressing this matter so while there are several other important issues this is at the top of our agenda and if there is not a clear position from the government, within two weeks you shall be acquainted with our next step,” Yarde explained.
Meanwhile, in the absence of clear regulations or conditions governing the service they provide, the sweeper/cleaners are suffering doubly since they are being asked to perform duties outside of their job description and yet each is remunerated differently. The women who were present yesterday explained that while some of them are being paid $15,000 others are paid $24,000 while some are paid $37,000 and still others are paid $55,000.
“There is no standard,” Mariam Fordyce of Hopetown explained. “We all doing the same thing yet getting different pay,” she added.
Fordyce who has been employed by the ministry for 15 years also bemoaned the fact that they have no benefits. The Ministry does not pay the National Insurance Scheme on their behalf and they are not entitled to leave.
“If you sick you have to send somebody else. You get no sick leave, no maternity leave, nothing. They say you working six hours but we working the same eight hours as the regular workers or more. Some cleaners opening schools. You got to arrive at 8, you can’t clean during school hours so you clean after school dismisses and if they got meeting you gotta wait til that finish whether is 3:30 or 4:30 or later,” Fordyce exclaimed.
A Ministry of Education Circular from 2003 says that sweeper/cleaners who work six hours or more are required to sweep and clean floors, walls and furniture, clean and disinfect toilets and sinks, remove scrap paper, supply lavatories with toilet paper and mop the floors weekly.
Despite this description the cleaners describe having to wash curtains and perform other duties for which they are not paid.
