Sign in. It’s quick, free and it’s up to you.
An account is an optional way to support the work we do. Find out more.
UNIONS HAVE WARNED that workers within the meat processing industry have not been sufficiently protected from the Covid-19 outbreak.
The Dáil heard yesterday that up to 600 cases had been confirmed in meat plants with the National Public Health Emergency Team previously confirming ten clusters in the facilities.
People in the food industry are considered essential workers and they can therefore travel to work.
Siptu’s deputy general secretary Gerry McCormack said this morning that some employers have been better than others in implementing physical distancing in the plants.
“Some employers really didn’t take this seriously, some of them did,” McCormack claimed.
“What seems to have happened is that quite a few workers have gotten infected in this industry,” he told RTÉ’s Morning Ireland programme.
If you contrast for example, the meat industry with the dairy industry, both providing food to throughout this country and abroad, and we have had very little if any outbreaks in the dairy industry, it’s a well-paid, well-regulated industry as compared to meat industry. We had this problem from the very beginning.
McCormack added that that 70-90% of workers in some meat processing facilities are migrants and that many live in cramped living conditions.
“We have migrant workers living in houses together, cohabiting with groups of other workers going into the plant. Some of them are afraid to say that they have problems, some of them are afraid to say that are sick,” he said.
‘Gravely serious’
Fianna Fail leader Micheal Martin yesterday described the number of coronavirus clusters in meat processing plants as “gravely serious”.
Speaking in the Dail on Thursday, Martin said: “The situation with meat plants is gravely serious and it is not obvious that these clusters are being dealt with comprehensively.
“Without calling for the shutting down of the sector, it seems very surprising that the blanket testing of a facility is followed by no interruption of work until the results are returned.”
He said the plants should be closed temporarily so proper cleaning could take place.
Would it not be reasonable to halt production for a deep clean and putting in place of new control measures while waiting for the results? Simply sending workers back to work and, indeed, not testing their families does not make sense.
“More needs to be done on this issue. Health authorities need to visit factory floors to see the reality.”
Rise TD Paul Murphy told the Dail he had received official confirmation that 200 complaints had been made about workplace breaches of Covid-19 guidelines.
He said the workplaces included meat plants and that so far no inspections had been carried out by the Health and Safety Authority (HSA).
“That’s 200 groups of workers potentially working in unsafe conditions, 200 appeals to the HSA falling on deaf ears,” he said.
“It appears that the HSA and the government has been asleep at the wheel, carrying out no inspections at the time when we need strict enforcement.”
Murphy called on Taoiseach Leo Varadkar to ensure that such workplaces faced sanctions and that inspections would be carried out.
In response, Varadkar said: “I will make enquiries with the HSA before making any judgment. I’d like to hear their side of the story and find out what their position is. Under the health and safety act, employers in breach of the act can be prosecuted and fined if it is appropriate to do so.”
- With reporting by Press Association
To embed this post, copy the code below on your site
For the spongers….. As if they don’t get enough!!! Maybe try get a job
@Kev Barnes: your a fool. Have you ever spoken to a genuine homeless person. You don’t no peoples life circumstances so don’t judge. Have a bit of compassion, it’s Christmas. This is not about people getting so called free houses, it’s about putting a smile on someone’s face. Crawl back into your hole
@Kev Barnes: most probably do have jobs. They are probably being paid minimum wage by billion euro companies. Working full time at minimum wage gives you around €380 a week. Average place in Dublin is around €1600. Even if both are working they would struggle to cover the rent. So the government step in and supplement this by way of our taxes. But of all the people you are pissed off with it’s the person not earning enough to cover their rent. They are at the mercy of their landlord with severe HAP discrimination. Most of them can’t afford to buy presents in fact most probably struggle to feed their families but I’m glad that the Christmas sprit is alive and well in you.
@Sos: it’s sad how someone can have such harsh views on children living in poverty. It’s not like the child asked to be born without the luxuries these people have.
@Ali Ní Dhomhnaill: I have actually I was homeless myself at one point but sorted my life out thankfully
@Ali Ní Dhomhnaill: Whether or not you disagree with his comments, calling somebody a ‘fool’ whilst incorrectly spelling the word ‘You’re’ shows that perhaps he’s not the only ‘fool’.
@Lovely weather: look up the dictionary, I think you will find “fool” is the correct spelling
@Lovely weather: “fool”noun.
a silly or stupid person; a person who lacks judgment or sense.
@Ali Ní Dhomhnaill: nah I expect their parents to get their acts together like most people in society.. My heart goes out to the children that was never my point… Oh and thank you for following my posts
@Ali Ní Dhomhnaill: he said “whilst incorrectly spelling the word “you’re”" not fool…
@Sharon Fernandes: even so the point about the definition whether made intentionally or not would still stand.that is a fool being a person without judgement or sense not a person who makes minor grammatical errors
If they’re anything like Erica Fleming and Co, they’ll laugh at shoebox 2nd hand presents.
If they’re not paying rent, then they are wealthier than the people the chuggers target.
You’re being fooled.
Don’t waste your money on these “charities”, donate to Bóthar or something.
@T Beckett is back: I think ICHH is actually one of the few good charities that has scaled without spending a ton of exec salaries etc. I think all their people are volunteers without pay. I like that they publish full audited accounts rather than ‘annual reports’ with cherry-picked information like most charities too.
One of the only ones I’ve donated to with how bad most Irish charities are with frivilous spending and mismanagement.
@T Beckett is back: I grew up in a shit hole a real bad bad shit hole.My first memory of fear was maybe 10 cops with sub machine guns on the shared balcony trying to get the lads who just robbed a jewellers.I always remembers this. Personally I wouldn’t ever give to Charities as the people who need it don’t get it the people who don’t need it demand it. Your all being taken for a ride. Charity begins at home.
I don’t understood a family being homeless in Dublin.
I commute from the midlands to Dublin for work (can’t afford to live in Dublin) and we(we have a young child) live on one civil service income.
Great idea. Bridges of hope are another group helping the homeless. Every Saturday night in the City Centre giving clothes and food. A Christmas dinner for homeless people and families in emergency accommodation will be held by them on Christmas
Excellent homeless charity!Some schools give out backpacks with essential items also& it’s great to see compassionate people including children.
The way some commentators here,often under pseudonyms, talk about fellow human beings in desperate stressful circumstances is truly disgusting and shameful!
have your say