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SIPTU HAS AGAIN highlighted its call for mandatory sick pay policies across all sectors after health officials expressed concern about reports of people turning up at work with symptoms of Covid-19.
Speaking at the Department of Health briefing on Thursday evening, deputy chief medical officer Dr Ronan Glynn said officials were receiving “report after report of employees ringing up their GPs while in work saying they’ve got symptoms”.
He said they are also still getting reports of employees being swabbed at work as part of serial testing programmes and showing symptoms.
“We have appealed to employers over recent weeks, it’s not that that appeal is starting today or yesterday,” he said. “We had a very specific appeal to employers a number of weeks ago to facilitate employees to work from home.
“But equally employers and employees need to be aware of that it’s just simply not acceptable this winter to be coming to work with cold and flu-like symptoms.”
He said the knock-on impacts for colleagues could be “far more profound” if people take that risk. He said people should ask themselves every morning before they go to work whether they are feeling well. If they have a new cough, a fever or a loss of sense of taste or smell, he said they should not “take the chance”.
Speaking to TheJournal.ie, Siptu’s organiser for workers in manufacturing Greg Ennis said sick pay provisions are “minimalist or non-existent” for workers in low paid sectors of the economy and in particular meat processing plants, where several large clusters have broken out over the course of the pandemic.
He said Siptu has repeatedly pushed for the implementation of the Oireachtas Covid-19 committee’s recommendation to legislate for a statutory sick pay scheme for low-paid workers and the designation of Covid-19 a notifiable disease under health and safety regulations.
“The dangers of people being forced to present for work due to a lack of sick pay provisions extends across lots of sectors and industries,” Ennis said.
“Recently we saw a situation where workers on 12-hour shifts were losing their shift premium – 33% – if they had to self-isolate. This approach is detrimental to ensuring we keep Covid-19 out of workplaces.
“I understand what Dr Glynn is saying and I share his concerns but the solution to this is a mandatory sick pay provision.”
As part of Budget 2021, the government announced that from the end of February 2021 the number of waiting days for illness benefit will be reduced from six days to three. However this still means workers would not receive payment for their first three days off work.
For this reason, Ennis said the reduction from six to three days will “make no difference”.
“The government really needs to go above and beyond, we are in a crisis and they need to act like it’s a crisis,” he said.
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Take note any Labour or Green voters who mistakenly believe they’re voting for left wing parties.
@Rochelle Hart: Why do supposedly left-wing parties support reducing the money DCC has to spend, by repeatedly reducing property tax?
That’s a populist policy, not a left policy. Greens + Labour are right to pull out of that BS.
@Michael Barry: Because they believe in housing as an essential right, not as assets to be taxed.
The property tax doesn’t serve as a wealth tax since it applies to even those in the most modest homes and since it’s beyond a council’s remit to remove the property tax, the best they can do is reduce the impact.
@Michael Barry: because many people on low incomes just happen to be in houses that have become valuable.
Do you propose taxing people out of their homes or having them live in unheated homes and all for big government to squander it on wasters and illegal immigrants
@Michael Barry: That is a bit of a red herring that labour included in their press statement. But there was no requirement in the progressive alliance to vote one way or another on the property tax. Socdems have consistently voted to have the maximum property tax within the +15 percent limit allowed. FG and FF have consistently voted to reduce it in the past. It’s unlikely that Labour can make them vote to increase it. That represents a very small part of the overall council budget (2% from the article I saw on Dublin Inquirer which has lots of detail). So the feeling was that pushing for a left alliance was the most important thing.
@David O’Reilly: and I think that the property tax should have some kind of means test. As people said above there are so many people with a fixed income who really struggle with that bill and they may just have a ginormously expensive house because of Ireland’s cyclical crackers property market. I hear it constantly when I’m talking to people in North Dublin anyway. Lots of people who can pay it without batting an eyelid though. It should be clear what they are getting for that though – like in the UK council tax is pretty big but you get your bins and lots of council services that are apparent like street cleaning etc.
That sounds like a solid coalition. I give it 3 months.
@honey badger: I’m sure they care that you give it anytime at all. At least they are trying to change things all you seem to do with your time is post dribble on here
@Ger Whelan: In fairness the lot of them would fall out with their own shadows…..3 months is very ootimistic!!
Great idea in principle. The only way to have real change is that all left leaning parties to come together to vote out fgff,
Labour and greens could be wiped out next election.
So they need to decide what side of history they want to be on.
Labour sold out and electorate don’t forget that. If they have any chance, they need to go back to their roots of supporting the ordinary workers.
Disgraceful Labour, they are at it all over again.
Propping up FF FG.
Refusing to enter left alliance in Dublin city Council.
You won’t see my vote ever again
@Niall Murphy: You don’t understand local politics if you think this is about “propping up FFG”
@Michael Barry: or that SF are left. All they are doing is bandwagoning. They’ll soon exhaust all possibilities.
@Alan: ” bandwagoning” excellent, even my predictive text couldn’t offer an alternative to that……I’ll use in discussion
They’ll be riding unicorns are the chamber in no time. Rainbows everywhere.
Well done Labour. Never get into bed with terrorists.
@Dave c: They already did that when they jumped into bed with FF. Its founding members were originally part of SF and the IRA and split to form their own political party and terrorist movement which caused the Civil war.
@Ger Whelan: That was different Sinn Fein party – learn your history
@Sean Hayes: Better tell them to Update their official website so. Because there it shows its history back to its founding in the early 1900′s.
@Ger Whelan: Everything was found in this country in the 1900s .
If the parties put themselves forward under a Progressive Alliance in the coming general election they could have a breakthrough chance.
@9QRixo8H: such a diverse groups of malcontents would never be able to agree a joint program nationally. Even Sinn Fein would be reluctant to try to form a government that included PBP. When the election comes, the left parties will split the vote as per usual. The old story, governments don’t win elections, the opposition lose them.
@9QRixo8H: Are you serious? They collectively would garner 8% of the vote, if even that in a GE.
This is another ” refurbishment ” of their failed policies, and claptrap .
I honestly thought you had an idea of this works based on your posts, its OK to promote something but to tie to this is farcical.
Exactly
Alliance? More like Axis.
It won’t last there b a falling out somewhere
Lunatics/asylum
Dublin City Council should be disbanded and the management of Fingal brought in to run things.
@Notty Tee: frying pan/fire. Fingal.is about as bad as it gets.
@Notty Tee: that’s hilarious
Labour costing up to FF on the councils
Amazing! Now do something about all the scroats ruining our city!!
Great, a Far Lazy alliance of doleheads to spend my tax money on the bone idle.
In France they’d be called le Front Populaire. When will they split?
The Left axis here is primarily driven by resentment. No one believes higher taxes results in better services. It just sucks money from the real economy. Small local businesses then need grants to survive. Higher taxation validated. The virtuous Left.
Does it really matter? Councillors have no power, all important decisions are made by the city manager. We don’t even get to vote for Lord Mayor the parties take turn enjoying that gig even if the chosen one is unfit for any office.
Any member of Labour is very welcome to join the Social Democrats.
have your say