Creating new jobs for Merri-bekers (media release)

10 May 2020

Moreland Council has 310 new jobs on offer, providing much needed employment opportunities for local workers doing it tough during the COVID-19 pandemic.

The new jobs will focus on providing important services across the Merri-bek municipality in response to the COVID-19 crisis and will be funded by a $16.18 million Working for Victoria grant from the Victorian State Government.

Recruitment will begin this week, with all jobs offered as six-month contracts.

Moreland Mayor, Cr Lambros Tapinos, encouraged Merri-bekers looking for work to sign up.

“We know that there are many local people that have found themselves out of work due to the COVID-19 pandemic and there are a lot of people and families facing financial hardship,” said Cr Tapinos.

“Our priority is to look after our Merri-bek community at this time and one way we can help is to have local people working for Merri-bek Council.
“This is an opportunity to have our local community work with us to keep Merri-bek moving forward at this unprecedented time so that we can come out the other side of this in a strong position and work towards recovery together.”

The jobs will mean a temporary 40% increase in Merri-bek Council’s workforce.

The roles will span a range of activities including outdoor land management and revitalisation works, cleaning services, food and meal delivery services, digital communications, maintenance and improvement works to council facilities, local business and community advisory and recovery services and supervisory and human resources roles.

Cr Tapinos said Merri-bek will benefit from the Working for Victoria initiative in a variety of ways.

“This initiative will stimulate the Merri-bek economy and put locals back into jobs,” Cr Tapinos said.

“And our wider community will also benefit from this extra workforce in our city, with more community services available where needed, extra maintenance to council facilities, focused communications to culturally and linguistically diverse groups and the revitalisation of outdoor areas.

“We are proud to be working with the State Government on the Working for Victoria initiative.”

Prospective employees will need to sign up to the Working for Victoria recruitment platform. The platform will be used to match up job seekers with their local council.

Register for a job at www.vic.gov.au/workingforvictoria