News shared from the Isle of Wight Green Party. Ed
Vix Lowthion, spokesperson for the Isle of Wight Green Party, says she has been inundated with families contacting her with their very real concerns about Island engineering and online fulfilment companies remaining open at this time of national crisis.
Workers report that the companies have taken few precautions to protect them from contracting the Coronavirus, and that their families are really worried for themselves, their children and family members who have underlying health conditions. They are scared to speak out publicly as they are worried about losing their jobs and their family’s only source of income.
Lowthion: This is not Business As Usual
Vix Lowthion has written to a number of the companies who have been brought to her attention – to date only receiving a reply from Pascal/ DDC Electronics.
Vix says,
“We are in a national crisis, with a threat to the lives of ordinary citizens not seen since the Second World War, with hundreds of people already dead. This is not Business As Usual.
“People are really worried about their health of themselves and their loved ones. Companies are responsible for the Health and Safety of their whole workforce, and it’s clear that too many of them have not made adequate precautions or supported the option for all of their employees to work from home.
“Urgent action is needed, before the threat to health from the virus escalates even further.”
Companies refusing furlough action
Some families report that whilst their loved one is pressurised to go to work in close proximity with other workers, that those on a higher pay grade have been allowed to stay home in safety.
And that they have enquired about the government’s ‘furlough’ scheme to pay 80% of their wages so they can isolate at home, but that the companies have refused to join in that scheme and are insisting that the workers must go into work or lose their job.
Pressured into choosing between a job or health of families
Vix concluded,
“The government have been clear on enforcing closure of non-essential retail and high street shops. They must also be clear about the safety of workers away from the high street.
“It is unreasonable that the government has pressurised companies into forcing their employees to choose between a job or the health of their family.”
If you wish to disclose other concerns, in confidence, then please email [email protected]
Image: Spencer Davis under CC BY 2.0
