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LABOUR DAY | As the ringing bell reverberates across the hall, students begin emptying out from classrooms, boisterously celebrating the end of the school day.

They run past Katie, who is headed in the opposite direction, carrying a bucket, mop, and other cleaning tools. Few acknowledge her on their way out.

Katie starts her routine of cleaning the row of classrooms but is startled by the sudden rumbling of thunder.

She quickly drops her tools and dashes downstairs to the drains, making sure that they are not clogged, to avoid flooding.

As the sky opens up, rain blankets the school, including its beautiful garden of giant sunflowers and colourful bougainvilleas - courtesy of Katie's tireless gardening efforts every morning before she unlocks the classrooms.

Katie also cleans the school toilets and teachers' office. On some days, if she has enough time, she sees off the students at the gates to ensure they are safe.

For all her efforts to ensure the school is comfortable and safe for the children, she gets a measly RM1,000 as salary, which is the national minimum wage. Her net income is RM900 after deductions.

No safety net

Unlike the past, Katie does not enjoy the welfare benefits of a civil servant as a school cleaner.

This is because the service of cleaners and security guards at schools has been privatised, and people like Katie are now considered as employees of labour companies.

With private contractors acting as middlemen between schools and cleaners, these workers have been made vulnerable to exploitation.

One such example was in 2015, when 24 cleaners at seven government schools in Ipoh were reportedly unpaid between May to December that year after their contractor Time Medi Enterprise filed for bankruptcy.

Katie, who asked not be be identified by her real name, was one of the 24 cleaners who have yet to receive their wages, which are an estimated total of RM150,000.

"If you work for a eight months without getting any salary, what would you do? How can you survive?" she told Malaysiakini outside the school where she works in Ipoh...

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