United Workers Union (UWU) and the Building Service Contractors Association of Australia (BSCAA) are calling for school cleaners in New South Wales to be included in the rapid antigen testing scheme made available to teachers and students.
As students return to school in NSW, teachers and students are required to test for COVID-19 twice weekly and have been provided with free RATs – but school cleaners have been excluded.
In other jurisdictions such as the ACT, where cleaning is not contracted out and cleaners directly employed, they are included in the return to school plans and will be provided with RATs.
Earlier this week, NSW Premier Dominic Perottet said 8.6 million RAT kits had been distributed to all schools to ensure students and staff are able to test for the virus twice a week for the first two weeks of term.
Lyndal Ryan, UWU property services director, said leaving out cleaners was “disrespectful”.
“They’ve been on the frontline of this pandemic, keeping schools open so other frontline workers can continue to do their essential jobs,” Ryan said.
“As the school term kicks off, large-scale outbreaks amongst students are unlikely to lead to school closures, and only low-level contact tracing is to be done with some estimates that 20 per cent of staff could be off sick.
“School communities cannot afford to lose their school cleaner as they go to get PCR tests – waiting in long queues of several hours and then waiting on the return of results,” Ryan said.
Debbie Delimitros, BSCAA NSW president and national vice president, said the Public Works Advisory is leaving the RAT options to employers, but employers are not able to get their hands on RATs, or the number of RATs that would be required to test workers.
“Cleaners are subjected to vaccination mandates in NSW schools, why are the cleaners not extended to the RAT scheme? Cleaners are frontline workers within NSW schools and being left out is yet again another blow to the industry,” Delimitros said.
“Cleaners have been essential in keeping schools open. Cleaners in schools need to be recognised as being essential workers and as such deserve the same recognition by the NSW Department of Education.
“Employers do not have access to RATs like the government. Cleaners at NSW schools are contractors, so if they are being left out of being the RAT scheme, that means so are all of the other contractors who visit NSW schools, such as electricians, gardeners, and plumbers.”
NSW Education Minister Sarah Mitchell told 2GB on Tuesday there were a “few extra kits” available for school cleaners at the discretion of school principals.
“We’ve given it to the principals to manage in terms of their staff,” Mitchell said.
“In terms of cleaners, I think it depends on their contract arrangements and things as well. A lot of that is managed mostly by the principals.”
Mitchell said the issue of cleaners receiving RATs had not been raised with her and the focus has been on teaching staff and those employed by the department.
“School communities will manage that. Our focus has been particularly on our teaching staff and those who are employed by the department. But again, there are a few extra kits that the principals do have and that’s not been an issue that’s been raised with me at this point.”
INCLEAN contacted the NSW Department of Education but did not respond prior to publication
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