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

Public school cleaners have spoken out against their horrible work conditions revealing they are forced to scrape human waste off toilet floors on a regular basis.

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

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

Mounting piles of rubbish, overflowing bins and sinks blocked and filled with toilet paper are among the common sights on the job. 

Public school cleaners have spoken out against their horrible working conditions saying they are forced to scrape human waste off toilet floors on a regular basis 

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

Sydney-based cleaner Milena Petrovich works at an all-girls high school where she finds faeces dumped outside the toilet bowl at least once a month.

‘During the HSC, I went into a toilet marked as ‘out of order,’ and nearly fainted when I opened the door,’ she says.

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

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

‘They’re teenagers. They make all the trouble they can think of.’

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.

Current contracts are set to expire in December this year, with the United Workers Union making a push to bring the services back under the control of the NSW government.

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

Ms Petrovich believes removing private contractors will improve issues around consistently being short paid, as well as the loss of sick leave and registered days off if contractors change in December.

‘We start from the beginning again, even if we’re doing the same job at the same school,’ she said.

Mounting piles of rubbish, overflowing bins and sinks blocked and filled with toilet paper are among the common clean-up duties of the job 

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Regional school cleaner, Judith Barber says staff face difficulties accessing necessary supplies when contracts come to an end 

Under the current award, full-time school cleaners are paid an hourly rate of $22.76, just $1.38 above the minimum wage. However, this means they can work a split shift over 13 hours, starting from 5am to 8.30am, plus an afternoon shift from 2.30pm to 6pm.

At her school in Sydney’s east, Ms Petrovich has seen cleaning staff reduced from 13 cleaners to five, with increased workloads allotting staff a mere 17 seconds to clean one toilet.

‘You have to run like mad to catch up with everything. They want you to work like a super hero but nobody sits with us and asks: ‘How can we help’? Nobody cares,’ she said.

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

‘Standard stuff, like getting chemicals and garbage bags. They stop buying supplied because if they lose the area, they’ll be left with the stock,’ she said.

‘The thing is, they’re being paid by the government, and taxpayers money. And they’re getting paid for a service that a lot of workers don’t believe they’re providing properly.’

UWU Property Services Coordinator, Linda Revill said cleaners’ ‘unsafe workloads’ are a risk to the welfare of students, and staff, and that the essential workers should be treated with more respect.

‘School cleaners were and are essential workers who deserve to be treated better after working at every stage they were required to during the pandemic,’ she says.

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

Messy classrooms left as a pigsty by students are cleaned frequently by the low-paid staff

‘Cleaners are on some of the lowest pay rates in NSW – with many earning only $22.76 an hour.

‘Despite repeated requests – including handing over more than 600 personal postcards to him – NSW Premier Dominic Perrottet has refused to even talk to school cleaners about the conditions they face.’

After stalled negotiations with the government, Ms Revill believes demands including safe workloads, job security, minimum hour guarantees for part-timers is reasonable. 

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

‘It’s not good enough the state is spending $1.75 billion on this five-year contract but cleaners have in some cases seen their numbers more than halve at their schools,’ she says.

‘We would see direct employment as ending a system where cleaners and hours are arbitrarily cut back, and where cleaners face unsafe workloads with little or no job security.’

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

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