Some cleaners and janitors retained their jobs during the COVID-19 pandemic but fear of the unknown and exposure to the virus are among the worries for these front-line heroes.
Support For Workers In The UK
British contracting organization Tayside Contracts, which provides cleaning and related services across the UK, recently told its employees that the pandemic had dealt a blow to finances.
Secretary of trade union GMB Scotland, Helen Meldrum, said that "without janitors, caterers and cleaners, schools in Tayside wouldn't be able to remain open."
Meldrum called for greater support for Tayside Contracts workers as the employees are central to government efforts to reopen schools, businesses and other facilities across the UK.
The struggles that Tayside Contracts workers are experiencing further emphasize the plight of cleaners and janitors who are not just being exposed to COVID-19 but are also among workers in the front line who are not given adequate support.
Cleaning Jobs Are 'Hard Work'
In Wyoming, the small town of Jackson Hole has been having a hard time filling cleaning and janitorial vacancies for schools - especially as some janitors have quit jobs for their health and safety.
Communications director of Teton County School District No. 1, Charlotte Reynolds, acknowledged that cleaning jobs were "hard work" and "it can be a little less than glamorous."
The district's custodial staff has been low even before some custodians started resigning over the past months but COVID-19 only pushed the numbers lower.
Owing to the lack of janitors, custodial staff have no choice but to move around to fill in the gaps and to make sure sanitation measures are implemented for the students' safety.
Advanced cleaning is necessary during the pandemic but a shortage in janitors puts the weight of the responsibility on custodians who cannot afford to lose their jobs and are forced to put their health on the line.
COVID-19: Respect For Cleaners
The need for better, more careful cleaning opened the eyes of the public to the importance of janitors in the community and how they help ensure safer and cleaner surroundings during the COVID-19 era.
Editorial director with the International Sanitary Supply Association, Jeff Cross, said the pandemic helped bring "cleaning to the forefront."
Don Puckett, who has done custodial work at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln for the past 45 years, said that "from what I've seen, if you do a good job...they do appreciate what you do."
While some schools and companies have a general sense of appreciation for the hard work that janitors put into their jobs, there are untold stories about workers who clean up.
Job Or Exposure?
While losing their jobs is a main concern for many custodians and cleaners, another problem is their fear of coming face to face with the novel coronavirus.
Jamal Johnson, who cleans at a Long Island City, New York, high school, referred to his custodian job as his "lifeline." However, the risk remains. "I have to decide if I risk my health to survive. It's a tough choice."
Johnson is 50 years old and joins the list of many older employees at the COVID-19 front line who want to keep themselves safe from the virus but also cannot afford to be axed from the job.
Schools have been reopening in the U.S. and the growing number of people getting out of their homes is putting janitors and cleaners at further risk of contracting the disease.
