500 signatures reached
To: Australian Universities
AUSTRALIAN UNIVERSITIES - SUPPORT YOUR CLEANERS!
We call on Australian universities to ensure the cleaners of their campuses are not without financial support by funding their cleaning contractors at the same rates as prior to the COVID-19 crisis.
Why is this important?
The decision by universities such as MONASH, LATROBE, MELBOURNE and DEAKIN to defund cleaning contracts at this time has resulted in many cleaners being stood down without pay and, as many are international students, without any financial means upon which to survive.
Universities receive large amounts of public money and rely on fees from international students such as those who have been stood down, this gives them a social responsibility for the conditions of these workers. Also, there is a continuing need for extra cleaning work to protect university staff from COVID-19.
It is shameful that Australian Universities such as MONASH, DEAKIN and LATROBE who rely so heavily on the income they receive from international students have now left those students without any financial resources upon which to survive in this time of crisis.