The Education Ministry has advised 51 school cleaners to lodge a complaint with the Labour Department, after they were not paid from May to December 2015.

“The workers are expected to lodge an official complaint with the Labour Department by the end of this week, based on the advice from an Education Ministry officer who received their memorandum last week,” PSM central committee member Rani Rasiah told Malaysiakini.

Rani had accompanied the workers in their meeting with a ministry representative at the Education Ministry in Putrajaya last week.

The cleaners were employed by an Education Ministry-appointed contractor, to work at seven schools in Ipoh.

The contractor allegedly absconded in May 2015, but the workers continued their duties to clean the schools.

They have contacted the Kinta Utara district education office, the Perak Education Department and the ministry’s procurement department, but the matter has yet to be resolved.

In June, a group of 13 school cleaners from Kuala Lumpur held a peaceful demonstration outside the ministry in Putrajaya, demanding two months’ back wages.

According to PSM-linked NGO, Jerit, the workers were owed a total of RM23,400 for the months of January and February.

The ministry had terminated and blacklisted the contractor as a result, and will use the RM43,884 deposit it withheld from the contractor to pay the cleaners.

However, the payment must go through the Labour Department and a case was filed there.

A group of 11 Indonesian school cleaners in the same boat, however, will not receive their back wages as they are ineligible for compensation from the Labour Department, Jerit said.