Sweepers/Cleaners protest low income, working conditions in Linden

Jan 25, 2018 News

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Sweepers and cleaners in Linden protested in front of the Regional Democratic Office on Wednesday bearing placards demanding an increase in salary, better working conditions and to be made permanent workers.
Some of the placards read “Time for raise a pay;” “No money, no work,” “$24,740 can’t work.”
Speaking on behalf of the cleaners, Naptalie Hughes, who is attached to Christianburg/Wismar Secondary School (Multilateral), said that they are contracted to work four hours per day but sometimes work up to six hours.
They need their salary to be increased to be on par with those in Georgetown and other Regions; they can be on one level playing field.
“We are working for years and we are not permanent. We need a better life, better cleaning gears and also security in our job. We need the same money as the cleaners in Georgetown and the other regions.”
Hughes noted that the working conditions are not healthy because sometimes they have to work in water without long boots and no face masks and gloves. They have to clean the toilets which are very dirty sometimes.
“It is very unhealthy. The supplies are ‘stretched’ to make do and they work for more than four hours daily.”
Hughes also said that she is sick and has to buy medication and support herself with $25,000.
Another cleaner, Sharmalla B. Sharpe, opined that $25,000 can’t take care of her and six children, pay bills and rent. Sharpe noted that during the August vacation, cleaners were being paid only for two weeks which is $12,000.
She said that cannot suffice because that is the time when they have to purchase new school supplies for their children.
During the protest a concerned citizen, Abdulla Hamid, who is in support of the cleaners protest, said that he is upset with the way the sweepers and cleaners are being treated.
He lamented that the money paid to them is outrageous. “We are living in the 21st century and to see these women going through this is very hard. I go to schools to do programmes and see these women working and the kind of work they do is not easy.
“They are on a four-hour contract but there are no benefits, if they get sick that is only the doctor money, no transportation. I’m saying if I am working with the Region and you are paying me, in meh hand without an envelope, if I need something at Courts, I can’t get a job letter. “Some are working for eleven years. Another thing, I don’t like is “this friends and family thing”. A person who is permanent, leaving the job and a person who never work in the system coming and getting permanent; what happened to those women who are there for so many years?”
He said that some of the women are working for eleven years and the Union needs to step up.
“This is our Government in power and if our people are not getting the support in the right way, then something will happen; we need to change the system, if you are putting them on contract, put them on contract with benefits. Give them the minimum wage of $55,000 or whatever it is for the eight hours they work.”
Hamid noted that $25,000 is not enough because he buys a pair of sneakers for that sum and if he wants a good pair, he has to pay $50,000.
“How could these women who have six and seven children and working for $25,000, pay bills and take care of their children? This is ridiculous.”
Hamid noted that he will support them; the union needs to up the ante and the Region needs to change its ‘act’ and stop being ‘friends and family’ because it is outrageous.
Another concern of the sweepers/cleaners is that they claim NIS is being deducted from their salary and when they submit Medical certificates to NIS, they receive no money because according to them, the Region says that deductions are not made.
However, the Manager (ag) said there is a process and a form to be filled out by the Region.
It is attached to the Medical certificate and if the Region claims that they are paid their full salary then NIS cannot pay again, so it is not that NIS does not want to pay them. It goes by what is on the form.
GPSU Branch Representative Maurice Butters told Kaieteur News that the sweepers and cleaners protested because they are frustrated with the treatment meted out to them by the Administration.
“They have no respect for them; they are treating the people as if there is a class structure existing in the region – the lower you are the more disrespectful you are treated even at the schools.
The teachers and head teachers treat them as if they are not human beings. No one wants to sit and discuss with these people how we can resolve this issue affecting them.”
He noted that some of the cleaners are working for over ten years. It is alarming that the region employs people from the road who would just come into the system and make them permanent.
“Now these people have been working four hours for so many years and they cannot upgrade them. It is very frustrating. What has compounding the situation is that those in Georgetown have been regularised; they are working eight hours and getting minimum wage.”
According to Butters, enquiries were made from the administration about the regularisation of the situation.
“They told us that they have no information, no knowledge of it. I brought to their attention that Harmon would have made a statement publicly and based on that statement they should have been more proactive in making calls and enquiring what is the situation and how they can fall in line by the announcement made by Harmon; but they chose to sit back and wait for somebody to tell them.”
Butters also noted that he spoke to the REO (ag) Ms. Maylene Stephen who promised to make enquiries and return a call to him. To date he is still waiting.
“We are calling on the President for instructions to be given so that the cleaners in Region Ten can benefit.”
Butters said that because of the lack of working and or protective gears two cleaners died within the last week.
“One from Harmony Secondary School died as a result of respiratory infection. (I am) not sure what the other one died from but this is bad.
“Linden is more dusty and not environmentally friendly area and when working without protective gear they will suffer and the administration is turning a blind eye.”
According to Butters, in a bid to set up a Safety and Health Committee in the Region, every time a meeting is planned the worker representative is present but the Administration representatives are always absent so the committee is in limbo.
He claimed that letters were sent to the administration. These were followed by visits and calls. He said with the committee in place it will alleviate the problems the cleaners are facing in schools but the administration doesn’t want it to happen.

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