Stonnington Council insists library staff will keep jobs in move to Prahran Town Square
A Stonnington ratepayers group fears 20 librarians stood down due to the coronavirus outbreak might not return due to an inner city library’s temporary move to smaller facilities.
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A council in Melbourne’s inner east says its library staff remain employed despite being stood down with no pay due to the coronavirus lockdown.
The Australian Services Union claimed Stonnington Council recently stood down 20 staff members without pay following the virus outbreak.
The union posted about the stand down on its Facebook page on August 12, and claimed the council could still afford to pay them.
“Stonnington gets funding from the Victorian Government for libraries and that funding hasn’t been cut,” the post read.
“Even though Stonnington’s still got the cash, 20 workers at the city’s libraries have been stood down without pay.”
ASU Victoria assistant branch secretary Melissa Wainwright said the union couldn’t understand why the workers were not being paid.
“There are surrounding councils paying their staff on full pay, and we believe morally Stonnington should to the same with their staff,” she said.
“We don’t see any reason why they can’t be paid on full pay, while they find redeployment options for them.”
The council will shift its library services to an empty tenancy in Prahran Square by the end of the year, as it tries to progress its $32 million redevelopment of Prahran Town Hall.
Council spokesman Jim Carden said it had “regrettably” stood down hundreds of operational staff due to the pandemic.
He said 85 per cent of library services were funded by the council, and the staff were stood down at the introduction of Stage 4 restrictions which forced libraries to close.
“Staff remain employed by council and will be returned to work as soon as possible, subject to the easing of Stage 4,” Mr Carden said.
But Ratepayers Stonnington president Dean Hurlston feared there would be job cuts as the library moved to a significantly smaller space in Prahran Square.
“We would be concerned that they may not return for a considerable amount of time due to the Prahran Town Hall project,” Mr Hurlston said.
“The council has now created a marginalised and disadvantaged group of workers because of this move.
“They were going to move anyway regardless, and this is council using COVID-19 as a shield.”
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