NSW – Mesrena Elyoum
The NSW Government has been accused of throwing workers under the bus as it continues to refuse to clarify what qualifies as “essential work” during a lockdown.
Premier Gladys Berejiklian has repeatedly urged people in locked-down Greater Sydney to remain at home unless they absolutely must leave for essential work.
However, she and Health Minister Brad Hazzard have both said people should use “common sense” to determine what is and is not essential, but the existing rules allow many retail outlets to remain open.
Asked yesterday what a worker should do if ordered to report for a shift despite believing their work to be non-essential, Ms Berejiklian said they should “stay home”.
Ms Hazzard today urged businesses to respect the “intent” of the health orders – but aside from disaster payments, no protections are in place for workers.
Australian Council of Trade Unions president Michele O’Neil said the government had “thrown workers under the bus”.
“The refusal of the NSW Government to establish clear guidance about what workplaces are essential means that critical public health decisions are left to individual employers to interpret while insecure workers are forced to risk their jobs if they decide to do the right thing and stay home from non-essential work,” she said.
“Rather than providing clear guidance about which workplaces should be open and which should be closed, they are asking workers to risk their jobs and ignore demands from their employers.
“Other states in the country have got this right during previous lockdowns, NSW should urgently update its advice to protect working people.”
Ms O’Neil also slammed the Federal Government for abandoning JobKeeper.
“Instead, we have a new system which provides a prolonged waiting period, less money and a handshake deal with the Prime Minister that you won’t lose your job rather than a solid connection to work on the other side of the lockdown,” she said.
“Currently in NSW, there is mass confusion about who needs to go to work, what the consequences will be for people who are trying to do the right thing, and what working people will have to return to after the lockdown ends. This needs to be urgently addressed.”
Ms Berejiklian has repeatedly urged workers who have lost hours during the lockdown to contact Services Australia, while businesses in need of support can contact Services NSW.
A jointly funded support package by the NSW and Federal Governments will provide $500 million of support every week during the lockdown.
Yesterday, Ms Berejiklian announced the current restrictions would be extended to at least July 30.