Demoralised cleaners at a Co Armagh school are leaving in their numbers over alleged bullying by Education Authority Cleaning Services management, it has been claimed.
At least five members of cleaning staff at St Joseph’s High School in Crossmaglen – some of whom have been carrying out their role for years – have left in recent weeks and months due to alleged bullying.
It must be noted that the Education Authority are the employing Authority – this responsibility does not lie with the school.
Cleaning supervisor Terry Hearty raised the complaint with Armagh I because he felt he had been “left with no other option”.
“I had hoped not to have to raise this publicly and that this situation could be sorted out quietly and respectfully among the involved parties,” he said.
However, Mr Hearty says the Education Authority have not listened to concerns raised and have been “dragging their feet” on the issue.
“I worked my whole life on building sites with people doing dangerous and difficult jobs, where tensions and tempers could often be high,” he said.
“However, I have never in my life encountered the type of aggression, degradation, or lack of respect that I have seen from the Education Authority Cleaning Services management towards the hard-working cleaners at St Joseph’s High School in Crossmaglen.
“The way some workers are treated, berated, and belittled by EA Cleaning Services management has appalled me. As cleaning supervisor, I would often encounter cleaners who had been left deeply hurt and upset after being humiliated and degraded following interactions with them.”
Mr Hearty said he saw staff go home “very distressed” because of how they were spoken to. Some staff members confided in Mr Hearty, telling him they couldn’t sleep at night and others who simply couldn’t come to work the next day.
“I find this totally unacceptable in this day and age,” slammed Mr Hearty.
“For some reason, the cleaning staff are treated as second-class citizens.”
He added: “The walls of St Joseph’s are covered in signs about the importance of treating each other with dignity and respect, and while the children of the school seem to have absorbed and understood these messages, it’s quite clear that EA Cleaning Services management have not.
“I have raised my concerns about these issues to both management and the EA themselves multiple times. I asked them to outline their own policies on workplace behaviour, I reminded them of their obligations to staff under the North’s Dignity At Work Policy, and I requested multiple times that the EA come into the school and provide anti-bullying and workers’ rights training.”
However, Mr Hearty says that “this has all fallen on deaf ears”.
Mr Hearty said staff would be picked on if there was “a little dirt or dust found,” making the staff “feel like they were dirty”.
“There’s not a classroom in Ireland where you wouldn’t find a speck of dust, given the amount of children in each class every day.”
He continued: “There’s a dreadful atmosphere, morale is very low, and staff are leaving in big numbers.
“70% of them are mothers. Some of them are coming from another job, some of them are doing late shifts elsewhere. Some of them have home care responsibilities, and the last thing they want to do is, for the two hours, go in there and be belittled or degraded.”
As a result, Mr Hearty said he feels he has “no choice now but to draw public attention to the appalling behaviour of EA Cleaning Services management and the blind eye that the Education Authority is turning to that behaviour”.
“Everyone has the right to work in a safe, respectful, dignified environment. Cleaners and others who work in the service industry are as entitled to that right as anyone else. The Education Authority must address the serious and chronic failings of EA Cleaning Services management as a matter of urgency.”
A spokesperson for the Education Authority (EA) said: “The EA Cleaning Service deliver an essential and valuable service to schools and in doing so employ a highly valued workforce.
“Should any workplace issues arise, the EA would encourage employees to raise them through the requisite process and the employee will be supported accordingly.
“The EA cannot comment on individual cases, as this would be a breach of the Data Protection Act 1998.”
