The campaign continues . . .

The Working With Children Check is a hot industrial issue - and the Education Department knows it. Education Support employees must provide evidence to schools that they have applied for the Check to be eligible to work. The AEU is advising ES members to work with the union sub branch and seek reimbursement from their school. Meanwhile in schools there have been many successes with sub-branches effectively petitioning school councils to cover the costs.

The campaign will continue with the negotiations for the new Education Support agreement as the new battleground. Late in 2007, the department gave us the undertaking that should these negotiations result in a change to existing policy, employees and schools will be reimbursed

The AEU has been unwavering in its campaign to ensure that Education Support members are not left out of pocket by the check, which costs $72. Scores of schools have stepped forward and paid the check on behalf of their ES staff, in recognition of the valuable contribution they make to our schools which is in complete contrast to the salary they take home.

AEU sub-branches bring together ES members and teachers, and it's this ability to work together that has been and will continue to be essential in fighting this campaign.

Many members and sub branches have contacted the AEU to let us know their schools have paid. Click here for a list of these schools. Some of the success stories were also covered in our recent ES newsletter.

Education Support staff are an essential part of our school and their work is greatly valued. ES staff generally work above and beyond what is required and rarely receive recognition from the Department. It is an unreasonable impost upon ES employees, who are already the lowest paid staff in schools and often work part time which compounds the impact of such a cost.

ACTION REQUIRED

If your school has not considered paying the cost of the check, we ask sub-branches to take up the fight. Convene a meeting to put a resolution to support ES members, and formally seek reimbursement from the school council. Of course there is no harm in a little lobbying of council members before the meeting. It could also be useful for an AEU member to attend the meeting to speak up with good reasons for supporting the request.

To assist Sub Branches in gaining school council support a draft letter and supporting arguments can be downloaded and adjusted to suit individual schools. Download a draft letter.