Education Minister Nicolette Henry on Friday met with sweeper/cleaners at the St Stanislaus College to address their concerns and listen to them. In her remarks to the gathering, she said it is important that everyone is treated with dignity and respect at their place of work, and the same would apply to the sweeper/cleaner. The meeting stemmed from a number of protest by the sweeper/cleaners, whom she felt were being underpaid and unjustly treated by the Education Ministry.
A group of sweeper/cleaners during one of the protest exercises
Minister Henry told the gathering that she convened the meeting to hear from them ‘first-hand’ what are some of the issues affecting them. She announced that a decision has been made for all sweeper/cleaners to be allowed to work a daily eight-hour shift, and that the previous six hours cap has been scrapped.
Additionally, Minister Henry announced that sweeper/cleaners will now be paid for service provided during the school holiday, since their services will be required. Further Henry, according to an Education Ministry statement, assured that she would meet quarterly with sweeper/cleaners, to get their feedback and to gauge if improvements are being made in regard to their working condition and other issues that might be affecting sweeper/cleaners.
Over the July/August school break, the plight of schools’ sweeper-cleaners were brought to the fore when they took to the streets of Georgetown to protest what they describe as inhumane treatment from the authorities.
Demonstration exercises were held at the Ministry of the Presidency, Finance Ministry, and the Ministry of Education’s Department of Culture Youth and Sport.
