{"id":23413,"date":"2020-08-27T17:40:40","date_gmt":"2020-08-27T16:40:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/unitelive.org\/?p=23413"},"modified":"2020-08-27T17:40:40","modified_gmt":"2020-08-27T16:40:40","slug":"safety-first-and-foremost","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/?p=23413","title":{"rendered":"\u00e2\u20ac\u0098Safety first and foremost\u00e2\u20ac\u2122"},"content":{"rendered":"
<\/div>\n

Workers who need to self-isolate at a Banham Poultry factory in Attleborough, Norfolk, where 75 staff have tested positive for coronavirus, must receive\u00c2\u00a0\u00e2\u20ac\u0098adequate sick pay\u00e2\u20ac\u2122, Unite, the UK and Ireland\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s largest union, said today (Thursday August 27).<\/p>\n

Unite, which has a number of members at the site but is not recognised by the company, said the factory must increase sick pay from the statutory minimum of \u00c2\u014195.85 a week that its low paid workers currently receive.<\/p>\n

Refusing to provide company sick pay risks workers having to\u00c2\u00a0\u00e2\u20ac\u0098choose between self-isolating or going into work because they cannot afford to be ill\u00e2\u20ac\u2122.<\/p>\n

Banham Poultry\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s parent company,\u00c2\u00a0Chesterfield Poultry, turned over more than \u00c2\u0141120m in the year ending June 2019, making gross profits of more than \u00c2\u014132m.<\/a><\/p>\n

Unite said it has been in contact with the factory\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s management and stressed that the safety of staff must come\u00c2\u00a0\u00e2\u20ac\u0098first and foremost\u00e2\u20ac\u2122, including considering a temporary shutdown of the entire site while the outbreak is brought under control, with staff being put on paid leave.<\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u015bBanham is owned by Chesterfield Poultry, which as multimillion-pound firm can clearly afford to top up the statutory sick pay of \u00c2\u014195.85 a week that its low paid workers are expected to live on if they need to self-isolate,\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 commented Unite regional officer Miles Hubbard.<\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u015bThroughout this crisis, Unite has warned food processing employers that poor pay combined with a lack of company sick pay risks staff having to choose between self-isolating or hoping for the best and going into work because they cannot afford to be ill.<\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u015bRefusing to provide adequate sick pay is unjust in any circumstances, but particularly so during a pandemic, as well as increasing the risk to other staff and the wider public.<\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u015bUnite has been in contact with Banham Poultry\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s management and made clear that health and safety of staff must come first and foremost. This includes considering a temporary shutdown of the entire site while the outbreak is brought under control, with staff being put on paid leave,\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 he concluded.<\/p>\n

\u00c2\u00a0<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

By Ryan Fletcher <\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Workers who need to self-isolate at a Banham Poultry factory in Attleborough, Norfolk, where 75 staff have tested positive for coronavirus, must receive\u00c2\u00a0\u00e2\u20ac\u0098adequate sick pay\u00e2\u20ac\u2122, Unite, the UK and Ireland\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s largest union, said today (Thursday August 27).<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":6955,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1308,1],"tags":[1295,983,803,1327],"wps_subtitle":"Banham Poultry must pay 75 self-isolating workers \u00e2\u20ac\u0098adequate sick pay\u00e2\u20ac\u2122","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23413"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=23413"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23413\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":23415,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23413\/revisions\/23415"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/6955"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=23413"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=23413"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=23413"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}