Several women working as cleaners in schools around the island are expected to go on hunger strike later today. They will be joined by unionists Jane Ragoo and Reeaz Chuttoo. They are hoping that their actions will force the hand of the government in improving their working conditions.

These women have been fighting for years to be paid more than the meagre Rs1500 they earn every month. The idea was to have the aggrieved individuals employed permanently by the Ministry of Education as general workers and be paid a salary of up to Rs9000. However, that process has failed to materialise for a lot of these women. The Ministry of Education is still projected to use private contractors who are unlikely to pay the cleaners Rs9000 monthly. Even if the private contractors did accept that salary requirement, the cleaners risk losing their jobs once their contract is over.

Until last Friday, there was still hope for a solution on the issue but having now failed to have their requirements met, the school cleaners have opted for a hunger strike. They planned a similar industrial action at the end of August but promises made by the authorities gave them enough reasons to postpone.

The school cleaners set to go on strike along with Ragoo and Chuttoo are now hoping for a written agreement from the relevant authorities with all their requirements met, given the breakdown in communication last week.