Australian Education Union SA president Andrew Gohl told parliament’s COVID-19 Response Committee that he was currently “haggling with bureaucrats” in the Education Department to finalize the definition of a “vulnerable” worker ahead of the start of Term 1 on Wednesday.
He said the department was also yet to finalize whether teachers who were deemed vulnerable would be entitled to additional leave or changed working arrangements.
Gohl described the situation as “infuriating”, saying the Education Department wanted to come up with its own definition of what constitutes a vulnerable worker despite SA Health and the federal government already providing guidelines.
“Notwithstanding the fact that the federal health website is really clear about what vulnerable workers are, that the SA Health website is really clear about what vulnerable workers are, we are at the moment haggling with bureaucrats to come up with a definition of what is vulnerable worker is,” he told the committee this morning.
“It’s infuriating to have to deal with such different levels of advice… around just simply trying to make people have a safe working environment.
“That’s all this is – it’s about making workplaces safe for children and those who educate them.”
SA Health defines vulnerable people