Hundreds of relief teachers in Canberra's public education system will continue to be paid despite schools moving to online learning next term due to the coronavirus pandemic.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
The ACT branch of the Australian Education Union and ACT Education Directorate last week struck a deal that guaranteed casual teachers a wage for at least six months, even if work dries up.
Canberra's schools have largely moved to online learning due to COVID-19, with only the children of essential workers able to attend.
Of the 50,000 public school students in the ACT, around 1000 were attending classes in person, Australian Education Union ACT Branch secretary Glenn Fowler said.
This meant there was a question mark hanging over the future of the nearly 1000 relief teachers working in the ACT public school system, Mr Fowler said.
While some casual teachers were still being deployed into schools, there had been a drop-off in work.
"Those casuals who were in systemic work will now have their income guaranteed," Mr Fowler said.
In a statement the ACT Education Directorate confirmed it had been working to ensure casual workforce would continue to be paid, including casual teachers.
"Casuals will be paid based on time they would otherwise have been required or expected to work," a spokeswoman said.
"There will be other circumstances where casuals worked regularly, but with irregular hours. In these cases, we will be averaging pay to casuals based on their prior six months work pattern.
READ MORE:
"We will continue to be flexible in our approach to maintaining the continuity of employment and payment for casuals wherever possible."
It came after weeks of discussions between the union and the ACT government to ensure teachers - permanent, temporary or casual - were not financially disadvantaged due to the crisis.
Mr Fowler also said there was no end date to the guarantee, meaning teachers wages would be guaranteed for the length of the crisis.
However it was unclear what would happen for casual teachers who did not have a six-month work history.
Reports have emerged of casual teachers lining up for JobSeeker payments, after schools went online last week.
The Treasury Department failed for the second day in a row to respond to questions about whether the new JobKeeper subsidy could be used for teachers employed in non-government schools. The payment provides wage subsidies of $1500 per fortnight to private sector businesses that have experienced a downturn of at least 30 per cent due to the virus.
The union has also secured an agreement from the government that no member will be forced to go to a school site.
As of Monday, 60 per cent of its members were working from home.
The union has also reported a surge in membership because of the crisis.
"We've put on more than 230 members in a week. We're got more than 4200 members now," Mr Fowler said.
- For information on COVID-19, please go to the ACT Health website or the federal Health Department's website.
- You can also call the Coronavirus Health Information Line on 1800 020 080
- If you have serious symptoms, such as difficulty breathing, call Triple Zero (000)
Our COVID-19 news articles relating to public health and safety are free for anyone to access. However, we depend on subscription revenue to support our journalism. If you are able, please subscribe here. If you are already a subscriber, thank you for your support. If you're looking to stay up to date on COVID-19, you can also sign up for our twice-daily digest here.
