NSW school cleaners share horror working conditions as they demand better pay

Public school cleaners have spoken out against their horrible working conditions, revealing that they are forced to regularly scrape human waste from the floor of toilets.

Cleaning workers in New South Wales have exposed the harsh reality of working in public schools as they push for better pay, job security and more staff.

The ultimate goal, they say, is to terminate contracts with private companies.

Piles of trash, overflowing bins, and blocked sinks full of toilet paper are some of the common sights at work.

NSW janitors have exposed the harsh reality of working in public schools as they push for better pay, job security and more staff.

Sydney-based cleaner Milena Petrovich works at an all-girls secondary school where she finds feces spilled out of the toilet bowl at least once a month.

“During the HSC, I walked into a bathroom marked ‘out of order’ and nearly passed out when I opened the door,” he says.

‘A student had squatted on the toilet and pooped all over the toilet. He had to get a bucket and gloves and clean up as much as possible.’

‘Students hide and eat in the toilets. They throw food and draw on the walls. It’s disgusting.

They are teenagers. They create all the problems that occur to them.

Since the mid-1990s, contracts for NSW school cleaners have been outsourced to private companies through five-year contracts.

Currently, the four main businesses in the field are ISS Facility Services, Ventia, Colin Joss & Co. and Facilities First.

The current contracts are due to expire in December this year, and the United Workers Union is pushing to bring the services back under the control of the New South Wales government.

The move would bring NSW in line with the ACT, Western Australia and Queensland systems.

Ms. Petrovich believes eliminating private contractors will ameliorate problems related to constant non-payment, as well as lost sick leave and recorded days off if contractors change in December.

“We start from the beginning again, even if we are doing the same job at the same school,” he said.

Assembling trash heaps, overflowing bins, and blocked sinks full of toilet paper are some of the common housekeeping tasks on the job.

Judith Barber, a regional school cleaner, says staff are facing difficulties accessing needed supplies when contracts end

Under the current award, full-time school cleaners are paid an hourly rate of $22.76, just $1.38 above minimum wage. However, this means they may work a 13-hour split shift, from 5 a.m. to 8:30 a.m., plus an afternoon shift from 2:30 p.m. to 6 p.m.

At her school in eastern Sydney, Ms Petrovich has seen cleaning staff reduced from 13 cleaners to five, with an increased workload that allocates staff just 17 seconds to clean a toilet.

‘You have to run like crazy to catch up with everything. They want you to work like a superhero but no one sits down with us and asks, ‘How can we help?’ Nobody cares,’ he said.

Regional school cleaner Judith Barber says staff are facing difficulties accessing necessary supplies when contracts come to an end.

Standard stuff, like getting chemicals and garbage bags. They stop buying supplies because if they lose the area they keep the stock,’ he said.

‘The question is that they are paid by the government and by taxpayers’ money. And they get paid for a service that many workers don’t think they are providing adequately.’

UWU property services coordinator Linda Revill said the “unsafe workloads” of cleaners are a risk to the well-being of students and staff, and that essential workers need to be treated with more respect.

“School cleaners were and are essential workers who deserve better treatment after working at every stage required of them during the pandemic,” he says.

The UWU is also asking for a modest increase of $1.50 an hour above award wages, to keep pace with rising cost of living pressures.

Messy classrooms left like pigsties by students are frequently cleaned by underpaid staff.

‘Cleaners have some of the lowest wage rates in NSW, with many earning just $22.76 an hour.

“Despite repeated requests, including the handing over of over 600 personal postcards, NSW Premier Dominic Perrottet has refused to even speak to school cleaners about the conditions they face.”

After stalled negotiations with the government, Ms Revill believes that demands including safe workloads, job security and guarantees of minimum hours for part-time workers are reasonable.

The UWU is also asking for a modest increase of $1.50 per hour above award wages, to keep pace with rising cost-of-living pressures.

“It’s not enough that the state is spending $1.75 billion on this five-year contract, but in some cases janitors have more than halved their numbers at their schools,” she says.

“We believe direct employment ends a system where cleaners and hours are arbitrarily cut, and cleaners face insecure workloads with little or no job security.”

Education Minister Sarah Mitchell’s office was contacted for comment.