Support staff ‘don’t feel safe’ going back to work

SCHOOL support staff claim they don’t feel safe going back to work without reassurances that Covid-19 testing kits will be made available at their workplace.

Yesterday, the GMB trade union launched a campaign calling on the Scottish Government to bring forward a Covid testing regime for every school across Glasgow and the rest of Scotland.

The GMB has written to Deputy First Minister John Swinney urging him to follow the interventions made in the social care sector after a recent survey found that two thirds of members feel unsafe in the school environment.

Last week, pupils at Glasgow schools, including the Glasgow Academy and St Alberts Primary School tested positive for coronavirus with some children asked to self-isolate as a result.

GMB Scotland Organiser Helen Meldrum said: “Over a week since the return of Scotland’s schools, it’s clear that many support staff do not feel safe at their work and overwhelming majority of them want to be able to access a Covid-19 test at work.

“If support staff need to book a test, they must absorb the financial costs and time implications to do so, and for a chronically low-paid workforce with many employed on multiple contracts across multiple workplaces, that’s just not credible.

“The failure over the summer months to listen to the voices of school support staff echoes what we witnessed in care earlier this year, and in this case the political focus has been on teachers and pupils while support staff have been forgotten.

“You cannot have a safe return to full-time education if a significant chunk of the workforce needed do not feel sufficiently safe, valued or heard by our decision-makers.”

A spokesman for the Scottish Government has advised that guidance, informed by the latest scientific advice, sets out the range of measures schools should take to minimise the risk of the spread of the virus.

He said: “We know concerns still exist and we want teachers and staff to not just be safe, but to feel safe, in school and in nursery.

“Teachers, nursery and school staff can already access a test for Covid-19 on demand through their employer if they are concerned they have been at risk from infection. We have written to every local authority providing information on how staff can access a test.”

Glasgow City Council has been asked for comment.