Paul Benedek, Sydney
"The union would have no control, we'd lose the award, lose hours, lose jobs - we're being flushed down the cleaners!", said Condell Park High School cleaner John Everett, one of 2000 cleaners who rallied on September 8 to protest the NSW Labor government's refusal to guarantee 7000 school cleaners' existing jobs and current hours.
The rally coincided with a four-day strike, organised by the Liquor, Hospitality and Miscellaneous Union (LHMU). According to the NSW Teachers Federation, nearly all schools were affected by the dispute.
Angry cleaners marched on the offices of NSW industrial relations minister John Della Bosca and Premier Bob Carr, alongside support contingents from the Public Service Association, the Construction, Forestry, Mining and Energy Union, the Australian Manufacturing Workers Union, the Teachers Federation, the Retired Teachers Association, the National Union of Students and the NSW Labor Council.
Apart from broad union support, parents and teachers have also supported the cleaners' campaign. While the government asked teachers, parents and even students to do the work of the cleaners, staff meetings passed motions supporting the cleaners' strike and refusing to scab. Some teachers sabotaged scab attempts by hiding keys. Parents congratulated the hard-working cleaners on their action to defend decent conditions in public schools.
Everett's wife Marge, a cleaner for 33 years, told Green Left Weekly that "our school used to have 10 cleaners. Now there are only four." Cleaners reported getting five-and-a-half minutes to clean a room, with a pay rate of just $13 an hour.
Many cleaners recounted how familiar the Carr government's attack on cleaners was. "I worked in the railways", John Everett recounted, "and the same thing happened there - we were tossed on the scrap heap".
Margaret Monck, a cleaner at Chatham School, Taree, for 17 years, agreed that the cleaners' battle was similar to that faced by other workers. "It's not just cleaners who are being laid off", Monck said. "Bob Carr is the grim reaper of the NSW work force."
On the eve of the strike, the government announced it would guarantee existing jobs, but would still give contracting companies free reign over hours. While the Industrial Relations Commission told the LHMU to call off the strike, the union refused as long as cleaners' hours were still threatened.
"We've forced the government to say the award is the basis for the contract, and every cleaner will get a job offer. Now we have to fight for an offer based on current hours", Annie Owens, NSW LHMU secretary, told the rally.
Rally-goer and Socialist Alliance lead Senate candidate Kylie Moon commented: "School cleaners have shown they are willing to fight. Certainly defending existing conditions is the first step, but these conditions will always be threatened while cleaning remains subject to private profit concerns.
"We should make Carr stick to his promise of years ago - provide real guarantees, by making school cleaning public, like other aspects of public education."
From Green Left Weekly, September 15, 2004.
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