DEC's $13 an hour job

One of the major issues with the Assisted School Travel Program has long been the amount of pay given to Travel Support Officers who escort students on vehicles to school and back everyday. In 2012, this amount of pay has risen to $13, much less than the officer would get paid working in a similar job somewhere else.

One Carenne Travel Support Officer has decided to speak out about the appalling conditions she faces everyday for miniscule pay and the lack of support she has received from the department and others.

The TSO says that on a daily basis she has to deal with students biting, hitting and kicking her as well as keep an eye on those with behavioural needs. She helps students get on and off the bus and ensures that they are correctly seated and restrained. She says that School Learning Support Officers are being paid in excess of $25 per hour for a similar job while she is being 'robbed' at $13 per hour.

'The department can't justify paying someone $13 an hour. It's not right. It has to be against the law', said the TSO.

The TSO claims to have approached the department which told her if she didn't like the pay offered she was free to leave and to have contacted the Assisted School Travel Contractors Association who told her they were not interested in helping TSOs when there are so many contractors who are being short changed by the department.

The TSO is now asking for anyone who believes that it is unfair to work as a TSO for $13 per hour to contact local member Paul Toole and show their support. He can be contacted by email paul.toole@parliament.nsw.gov.au or telephone (02) 6332 1300.

Escorts on student transport vehicles paid just $12.05/hour

A woman contracted to the NSW Department of Education and Training to supervise students with serious medical conditions and behavioural concerns in transit between home and school has hit out at the department for paying a paltry $12.05 per hour.

The woman, who is contracted to be a student transport escort has asked that Carenne Gate not name them for fear of reprisals from staff at Carenne Special School.

The escort told Carenne Gate that she was shown a payslip from an aide at Carenne which showed they were being paid around $25.00 per hour. The escort told Carenne Gate:

"Our work isn't that different from that of an aide except we are required to supervise the students as well, in the classroom an aide isn't to supervise students, that is the teacher's job. We have a higher duty of care and are paid less than half, it isn't fair."

The rate of pay is also significantly under the federal minimum wage of $14.31. It is believed that the department gets around this by employing its escorts as contractors instead of as employees.

"How are we contractors, we bring nothing to the job, there are no tools of trade. We can't possibly be contractors, we are paid to supervise kids on their buses," the escort told Carenne Gate.

It demonstrates just how the NSW government looks after its employees and contractors at the lower levels of the pay scales while looking after top level bureaucrats and contractors such as Carenne Support which are connected to the department.