A massive RAT program is supposed to prevent the NSW school term from becoming a Covid catastrophe, but there is one group being left out.
Cleaners working in NSW schools have been excluded from the rapid antigen testing scheme made available to their teaching colleagues and to students.
NCA NewsWire has seen an email from a government bureaucrat to the United Workers Union confirming cleaners will not be required to get tested.
The email also reveals cleaners, unlike teachers, won’t get free Covid-19 RATs from the government.
Asked directly if cleaners would get free tests, the Public Works Advisory official wrote: “The various employers of cleaners are exploring RAT test options and may implement their own processes in future as needed or required.
“More details about specific processes will be available from the employers directly,” the email continued.
UWU property services director Lyndal Ryan 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,” she said.
A northern NSW school cleaner questioned why the RAT scheme wouldn’t extend to her and her colleagues when they were subject to vaccination mandates.
“We stepped up at the beginning of Covid for additional cleaning to keep our schools safe,” Judith Barber said.
“As essential workers, we were required to be vaccinated to keep working in schools, but now we’re not seen to be important enough to be included in the rollout of RATs in schools.”
The NSW education department said on Friday every school in the state had received RATs for students and staff.
But cleaners aren’t counted as staff for the purposes of the RAT rollout.
That’s because unlike some other jurisdictions, like Queensland and the ACT, NSW doesn’t directly employ school cleaners.
Instead, cleaners in the state are employed by contractors.
The UWU said it had seen correspondence from cleaning contractors that indicated the companies wouldn’t supply free rapid tests to their employees, either.
“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,” Ms Ryan said.
The NSW government has procured 8.2 million RAT kits for more than 3000 public and private schools.
Education Minister Sarah Mitchell was contacted for comment.
Originally published as School cleaners left out of NSW rapid antigen testing scheme
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