The Workers Union has lashed out at firms who fail to protect employees in the wake of Coronavirus.
Since the government eased lockdown restrictions in May, many people have returned to their place of work. This has led to reports of inadequate social distancing measures, a widespread lack of personal protective equipment (PPE) and clear cases of bullying and harassment.
The Workers Union says…
The Workers Union’s chief spokesman, said: ‘We’ve received a number of disturbing reports of company chiefs failing to take appropriate measures to protect their staff. In one instance, a popular warehouse distribution firm asked its pickers to prepare goods using dangerous and faulty forklift trucks and worryingly not supplying correct PPE or issuing clear social distancing guidelines. In another, a member of staff at a logistics firm was injured and sustained a broken collar bone after the ‘ancient’ access steps he was using collapsed. The usual equipment checks were simply suspended so that bosses could divert time and resources elsewhere.
‘As a union we understand that these are hard times for UK plc. But failing to provide a safe working environment is a fundamental betrayal of working people.’
Health and Safety at Work is a Growing Issue
The Workers Union is not the only organisation to notice this trend. Some news outlets broke a story that showed the Health and Safety Executive received 5,000 workplace safety concerns in May.
Mr Morgan said: ‘This is an issue that’s been building up for a number of weeks. As we’ve seen before, the first thing sacrificed in difficult times is staff safety. It is as unreasonable as it is grotesque to put hard-pressed workers into a situation that endangers them’.
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The Workers Union – Britain’s hardest working union