The union representing cleaners at ACT public schools is pressuring Education Minister Joy Burch to stop the exploitation of migrant workers by forcing the Education and Training Directorate to hire its own cleaners.
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United Voice ACT branch secretary Lyndal Ryan said refusing to employ contractors could be the only way to prevent the abuse of workers' rights, during a peak-hour demonstration outside the directorate's Northbourne Avenue office.
"The way they're allowing migrant workers to be treated within their schools is shameful. Their inaction on these particular issues that they have known about for six months is just negligent," Ms Ryan said.
The cleaners and the union are taking legal action against two companies accused of underpaying workers more than $500,000 over a number of years.
Phillips Cleaning Services faces allegations it signed migrants and refugees with limited or no English to contracts they did not understand and exposed them to unsafe working conditions. The union has also named Rose Cleaning Service in a complaint to Ms Burch.
The union will circulate a petition urging the ACT government to end the protracted stoush over standards for school cleaning contractors.
Fairfax first drew attention in November to the plight of Htoo Ywai, a cleaner who came to Australia as a refugee from Thailand and spent more than 20 years in a refugee camp with his mother and family.
He claimed he was never paid extra for doing the work of other cleaners when they were away and worked regularly with chemicals without gloves or safety masks, despite asking for them.
Ms Ryan said that since Mr Ywai spoke publicly, his employer altered his starting time by 15 minutes in order to "make it a little bit harder for him to balance two jobs".
"It's all under these people's watch," Ms Ryan said.
"Quite a number of [the cleaners] have come here as refugees and it is just shameful the government is allowing them to be treated this way.
"[Their employers] don't tell people their rights, we've had a worker who worked for a company for three years, asked for a day off of sick leave but the employer said 'Why are you having a doctor's appointment on a work day?'.
"Despite the doctor's certificate, the employer refused to pay her and she did not know anything about her rights."
The owner of Rose Cleaning, Phillip Arcidiacono strenuously denied the allegations of underpaying workers and accused the union of employing bullying tactics to force him to sign a new workplace agreement.
He said an audit carried out two weeks ago by the directorate exonerated his company of the claims and said many people have left the union because of its "disgusting behaviour".
"We don't have anyone here [at Rose Cleaning] who doesn't speak English or who doesn't know the law better than me. If there are people that have been underpaid, let them come forward."
Angelo Di Dio of Phillips Cleaning also said the union was using the claims to pressure his business into paying people "money we don't have".
He said the argument stemmed from his refusal to pay his permanent part-time workers during school holidays, when the government did not require or pay for their services.
A spokesperson from the Education and Training Directorate said staff met union representatives on Wednesday morning to discuss school cleaning contracts.
The spokesperson refused to say whether the directorate would consider hiring its own cleaners for ACT schools but said "all cleaning contractors have been reminded of their responsibilities".
"As with all contract arrangements, the directorate takes agreements seriously and regularly takes measures to ensure obligations are met," the spokesperson said.
"The directorate has investigated claims put to it and has worked with United Voice to provide regular updates on the status of the directorate's actions. Investigations are ongoing."
