MAV says exclusion from job schemes are a ‘slap in the face’ to council workers
First they were excluded from JobKeeper payments, now council workers have been barred from a State Government aid scheme. So who should be paying the thousands of local government employees out of work?
South East
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Out of work council employees are being left “high and dry”, excluded from both federal and state coronavirus assistance schemes, the Municipal Association of Victoria says.
There are more than 5000 municipal casuals without work due to mandatory facility closures, and about 700 full-time and part-time workers have been stood down.
The MAV comments came after Victorian Treasurer Tim Pallas announced the Jobs and Skills Exchange Program assistance scheme for public sector workers, which does not cover council employees.
Mr Pallas said it was up to all tiers of government – including councils – to play their part in looking after their workers.
But MAV president Coral Ross said the exclusion of local government from both this and the Federal Government’s JobKeeper scheme was a “slap in the face” to council employees.
“First we had the Federal Government dismiss local government as ‘creatures of state governments’ and now we have the Victorian government essentially saying to council workers ‘you’re on your own’,” she said.
“These two tiers of government raise more than 96 per cent of the tax collected in Australia. Dedicated council staff in need of support have been left high and dry.”
Cr Ross said it made no sense frontline workers employed by private, not-for-profit or state government organisations could access taxpayer-funded support payments, but people performing identical roles for councils could not.
Victorian Liberal Senator David Van said he was disappointed the state assistance program for public sector workers did not extend to local government employees.
“Nearly 300 employees from Peninsula Aquatic and Recreation Centre (PARC), a subsidiary of Frankston City Council, have been stood down and neither the council nor the State Government are supporting them,” he said.
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Mr Pallas said the exclusion of state workers from the federal JobKeeper scheme meant the Victorian Government had to take action to look after its workers.
“We would expect local government, similarly, would step up to the plate and look after their employees,” he said.
“We are all in this together – that doesn’t mean that one particular tier of government should be bearing the weight or responsibility for support, we all have to bear our share of responsibility.”