CWU Coronavirus Covid-19 – My rights at work
Dear Colleagues,
During these
extraordinary times, and the rapid change in response to Covid 19, our
support to our members is paramount. Regardless of the company you
work for the CWU are here to help and monitor the terms under which you
work. You are the invisible group of key workers keeping the backbone
of communication and financial support in this country running. You
are ensuring people are connected to the outside world in their homes as
well as providing financial support. We are trying to
keep you up to date with the evolving situation so we can provide some
solid advice for each employer you work for. No worker should
be penalised for following the government advice.
If you wish to contact
the CWU, we are still working as normal. Your first contact should be
with your local branch. Your local Branch is: 29807 MID WALES
THE MARCHES & N STAFFS BRANCH
Please log onto https://www.cwu.org/contact-us/ to
find your branches contact details.
We have also set up a
dedicated email address for you to email with your concerns. This is covid19-tfs@cwu.org. This will be checked
on a daily basis and will make every effort to respond as soon as we are
able.
The situation changes
daily, however, the NHS information should help you and your families keep
up to date. https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/coronavirus-covid-19/
Covid-19 is having an
unprecedented effect on working life. Many of you have been
identified as key workers and aren’t able to work at home, therefore have
genuine health and safety concerns. The CWU want to ensure that your
attendance at work is only to perform critical duties. The health and
safety of our members is paramount. We are therefore working with
your employers and challenging them on a number of fronts. We will be in
touch very soon to provide more detail for the specific employer you work
for. In the meantime please email our dedicated email address above
if you feel your concerns are not being listened to.
Below are some key
points :
·
If you have to be at work - you shouldn’t be hot-desking and employers
should ensure the required two metre rule for social distancing. Employers
should sanitise all work areas and provide the appropriate health and
safety equipment to employees including hand washing facilities or hand
sanitiser.
·
If you are able to work at home you are entitled to ask your employer for
the right equipment to be able to do this.
·
The Government has categorised two types of vulnerable people:
·
The Government advice to vulnerable people
is to be particularly stringent in following social distancing. You
should work from home if you can. If you are a key worker you should only
be carrying out critical work and in a way that follows the Government
guidelines on social distancing. The CWU are negotiating with your
employer for you to stay at home on full pay.
·
If you have been identified as extremely vulnerable – and have received a
letter from the NHS regarding shielding you should not be at work for the
next twelve weeks. See a list of these people here.
You can however work at home, but this must be in isolation. Anybody in
this category of ‘at risk’ workers who are unable to work from home should
be receiving full pay, nobody should be financially worse off for trying to
save their own or other people’s lives.
·
If you live with someone who is shielding and don’t want to put them at
further risk by coming into work, you should talk to your employer but also
seek help from your CWU branch.
·
If you are a pregnant employee, you should not be made to go into work even
if you are a ‘key worker’. The government has categorised pregnant women as
belonging to a ‘vulnerable group of workers for
COVID-19 and has advised pregnant women to avoid going outside where
possible. The CWU believe you should have a right to stay at home for
health & safety reasons if you are pregnant.
More generally for all
workers the TUC has called for a number of measures that the government
should put in place to ensure workers in the UK are not
disadvantaged. The CWU also have a dedicated webpage that provides
you with the up-to-date information on your rights at work. The two links
are below:
www.cwu.org/live
Yours sincerely
Andy Kerr
Deputy General Secretary
Some other useful
websites are below: https://www.tuc.org.uk/CoronavirusProtectingWorkers
https://www.acas.org.uk/coronavirus
https://maternityaction.org.uk/covidmaternityfaqs/?fbclid=IwAR2EPM39OucYtcYamxs7XNh6pot95K1kTiArMVBh8kwcJkBFVb-lSI00JHY
https://workingfamilies.org.uk/articles/coronavirus/