The wonderful efficiencies of contracting out work to the private sector. Saving taxpayer money by eroding job security and quality.

The private sector is cheap because it cuts corners - it cuts job conditions and wages, it cuts safety, it cuts quality, it cuts everything except the money going to the middlemen who run the companies and rort the system.

This is the best summary I could come up with:

“The race-to-the-bottom mentality of major contractors like Tradeflex and Serco treats workers like Konstantinos as a number that can be thrown on the scrap heap.”

Under ISS, which had negotiated an enterprise bargaining agreement with the union, level one cleaners who worked full-time were paid for 52 weeks of the year – that is, including school holidays – and earned $47,562 per annum.

The company was “proudly committed to employment practices that are fair and inclusive,” the spokesperson said, adding that workers over 60 made up approximately 10% of its total workforce.

A committee the Victorian government charged with reviewing the school cleaning contract arrangements earlier this year also recommended direct employment, the union understands.

“Despite the completion of the review, workers are still saddled with a system where their jobs are only as safe as the next contract, and any above-award wage increases won can be disregarded by replacement contractors,” she said.

A spokesperson for the Victorian Department of Education and Training said in a statement: “We are facilitating the transition and actively working with the service providers to ensure a smooth process for schools and cleaning staff, with incoming arrangements to be in place until late December 2024.

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