The General Workers' Union has called on the government to investigate whether contractors who were awarded cleaning contracts by the government are fully respecting government guidelines on employment conditions, pointing to contractors working for the ETC and the University in particular. 

It said that while contractors engaged by Mcast and Mt Carmel Hospital, among others, were following the guidelines, others were not, such as in the case of contracts awarded by the ETC and the University.

It said workers were not being paid overtime as laid down by law and in some cases the overtime rate was lower than the hourly rate. The bonus was also not being paid on time.  

The union said blacklisting was not working because contractors often wound up their companies and started new ones under different names. Contracts awarded to contractors who were not following guidelines were not being stopped. 

At the university, after complaints were made on the method of overtime payment, the administration did not stop the contract and report to the Department of Contracts for blacklisting, but spoke to the contractor, who promptly stopped all overtime, the union said.