Union issues two-week ultimatum to Govt. to regularise sweeper/cleaners’ pay

Jan 20, 2017 News

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The rich are likely to get richer and the poor even poorer if the plight of the sweeper/cleaners attached to the Ministry of Education is taken into consideration.

The Education sector is usually injected with the largest chunk of the national budget on an annual basis, with this year being no exception. This year the National Assembly approved a whopping $43 billion for the education sector alone. However, those tasked with ensuring the cleanliness of the facilities intended to facilitate the teaching/learning experience are reportedly among those who are paid the least in the country.
While there was no physical evidence to support this, there were claims vocalised by some sweeper/cleaners yesterday that some of them are paid as little as $15,000 per month although their work day exceeds eight hours. In fact some sweeper/cleaners who travelled from Regions Three, Four, Five, Six and 10 yesterday to congregate at the GPSU’s Regent and Shiv Chanderpaul Drive headquarters, to highlight their plight, disclosed that they were all contracted for six-hour work days but their duties usually exceed this agreed timeframe.
The workers stated that although some of them have been in the profession for many years, the salary that the position attracts is not regularised. This translates to some workers being paid varying sums with some receiving as much as $55,000 for the same work done by those receiving less. It was revealed that the workers (all women, are not even eligible for maternity leave and other benefits afforded to other public servants.
The sweeper/cleaners dilemma was amplified extensively yesterday by GPSU officials during a press conference. The GPSU is representing the interest of the sweeper/cleaners.
GPSU President, Mr. Patrick Yarde, said that the union has long been advocating for at least the minimum wage offered by the public service.
“We have been asking for the regularisation and improvement…it varies, some people get thirty something thousand dollars, some get forty something thousand dollars per month, and I gather there are a few of them who get $55,000 a month, but even these don’t get any vacation leave or any vacation allowance. So we would like this thing to be regularised so they will all be paid similar allowances and remunerations generally and get entitlements such as leave, etc,” Yarde disclosed yesterday.
As part of the regularisation process, Yarde said that the union is advocating for a 40-hour week for the workers, and if they are required to work beyond that, they should be paid overtime.
Yarde said that the Union is giving Government a two-week ultimatum within which to regularise the payment of sweeper/cleaners.
When asked how far the union is prepared to go to have the matter addressed, Yarde said yesterday, “the sky is the limit…”
“I get very emotional when I speak about this,” said Yarde, as he told media operatives, “if you do not have records, we can share clippings with you of statements persons made while they were in the opposition and now they are in Government.”
Yarde said too that “I never thought that we would have encountered this type of resistance, it is so clear-cut, and if I share some additional information with you, you would understand how people can see, within their own circumstances, the need for such payments, and when it comes to others they are reluctant…there seems to be a policy for the ‘haves and have nots’. There seem to be double standards in dealing with remuneration and we will not put up with that; it is unfortunate, but we are not giving up this one.”
As such, Yarde disclosed yesterday that the union has placed this issue at the top of its agenda, despite there being several other issues of importance gaining its attention.
“We need to get this out of the way,” said Yarde as he added, “the reasons I have been told that this is held up ought not to be reasons.”
Although Yarde stopped short of sharing reasons for the delayed regularisation, he did reveal that within two weeks the union will make known its next retaliatory move if no response is forthcoming.
He however noted that there have been some members of Cabinet who have been sympathetic to the matter.
“I have been told personally by the President (David Granger) that Minister (Winston) Jordan is mandated to deal with this matter…I wrote him recently and I’m going to give him an opportunity to take action, if action is not forthcoming that is reasonable, then we will move further.”
“We are not going to be irrational with hastiness, but we have already consulted a variety of levels that are relevant to taking further action,” Yarde asserted.

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