NSW Anti-Slavery Commissioner backs de-privatisation amid school cleaner slavery concerns

The NSW Anti-Slavery Commissioner has raised fears some school cleaners are modern-day slaves, copping intimidation and threats, deception, withholding of wages and abusive working conditions.

NSW Anti-Slavery Commissioner Dr James Cockayne has raised concerns some school cleaners are working in modern slavery.

The NSW government has been warned school cleaners are working as modern slaves and taxpayers are footing the bill, with the state’s Anti-Slavery Commissioner urging his bosses to bring cleaning contracts back in-house.

The Daily Telegraph can reveal that NSW Anti-Slavery Commissioner Dr James Cockayne wrote to multiple Minns government ministers in April raising concerns about workers’ conditions, and “encouraging them to consider” directly employing the 7000 school cleaners working under private whole-of-government contracts as “employees of the Department of Education” instead.

Dr Cockayne told The Daily Telegraph victims of modern slavery and whistleblowers in the NSW cleaning sector have approached him directly, and their accounts suggest “chronic under-reporting of exploitation”.

“Cleaners have faced intimidation and threats, deception, withholding of wages and abusive working conditions,” he said.

Suppliers were reducing their costs by coercing their workers into forced overtime, the Commissioner said, and threatening to sack them if they complained.

NSW Anti-Slavery Commissioner James Cockayne. Picture: Danielle Smith

“Some suppliers … (are) engaging in wage theft or underpayment, imposition of unreasonable fees on workers — for uniforms, transport, supplies — … (and) deceptive recruiting,” Dr Cockayne said.

“Taken together these factors expose cleaners in NSW to forms of exploitation that surpass the threshold of forced labour based on the International Labour Organization’s (definition) and suggest real risks of modern slavery.”

Taxpayers should be “highly concerned” about modern slavery occurring under NSW government-funded contracts, Dr Cockayne said.

“Insourcing school cleaners would improve the institutional checks and balances on abuses of power.”

Under the current cleaning services award, a full-time school cleaner can be paid a minimum of $24 an hour.

However, the United Workers Union (UWU) argues with a large proportion of the workforce drawn from migrant communities, cleaners are particularly vulnerable to exploitation and unsafe conditions.

NSW school cleaner Mary fears migrant colleagues are being exploited for unpaid overtime. Picture: Julian Andrews

School cleaner of 53 years and UWU member Mary, who did not want to be identified by her surname, raised concerns her non-English speaking colleagues are at risk of being exploited.

“I am concerned for my colleagues who do not speak very fluent English and are afraid to speak up, or say “No sorry, I don’t have the time to do this’, in fear of losing hours or their job, so they comply and do the extra work without pay,” she said.

UWU Property Services Co-ordinator Lyndal Ryan welcomed Dr Cockayne’s comments and urged the Minns government to “take the Commissioner’s advice”.

“The message of the Anti-slavery Commissioner only reinforces what school cleaners have known for far too long: profit-driven cost-cutting contractors have completely failed in their duty of care to vulnerable workers,” she said.

A spokesman for Education Minister Prue Car said the Minns government was “deeply concerned” by the reports, blaming the previous government’s “addiction to privatisation” for the current situation.

“We are moving quickly to deliver on our election commitment to review these contracts and work towards getting a better deal for cleaners, parents, teachers, support staff and, importantly, students,” he said.

“The Commissioner’s report has been provided to the review committee for its consideration and they will reply to him shortly.”

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Originally published as NSW Anti-Slavery Commissioner backs de-privatisation amid school cleaner slavery concerns