{"id":24057,"date":"2020-10-02T16:08:34","date_gmt":"2020-10-02T15:08:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/unitelive.org\/?p=24057"},"modified":"2020-10-02T16:08:35","modified_gmt":"2020-10-02T15:08:35","slug":"bernard-matthews-bus-win","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/?p=24057","title":{"rendered":"Bernard Matthews bus win"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"fb-root\"><\/div>\n\n<p>Bernard Matthews has suspended fares on company-subsidised buses to all of its sites to help prevent the spread of coronavirus through car sharing, following pressure from Unite, the UK and Ireland\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s largest union.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The move came after the company said the Covid-19 outbreak at its site in Holton, Suffolk, could&nbsp;be linked to low paid workers car sharing.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In response Unite said Bernard Matthews had&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/unitetheunion.org\/news-events\/news\/2020\/september\/bernard-matthews-risking-suffolk-workers-and-public-s-health-with-sick-pay-and-bus-fare-penny-pinching\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">\u00e2\u20ac\u0098actively encouraged\u00e2\u20ac\u2122<\/a>&nbsp;the practice by nearly doubling the fare of its company-run buses in August from \u00c2\u01413.50 to \u00c2\u01416.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>While welcoming the move, Unite said more clarity was needed from Bernard Matthews on how long the fares will be cancelled for, after the company said the decision will be \u00e2\u20ac\u0098continually reviewed\u00e2\u20ac\u2122.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Minimum wage Bernard Matthews\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 workers have expressed concerns that they are not willing to give up spaces in shared cars to remote sites&nbsp;unless they know they can rely on affordable transport.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The company has also suspended the&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/unitetheunion.org\/news-events\/news\/2020\/september\/bernard-matthews-breaks-pledge-and-leaves-essential-workers-stranded\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">planned cancellation of a subsidised bus route to Great Witchingham in Norfolk<\/a>&nbsp;on October 12, however it is not known how long the route will run for. Unite is calling for the plans to cancel the service to be scrapped.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Unite also reiterated its concerns about the company paying self-isolating workers&nbsp;Statutory&nbsp;Sick Pay, which&nbsp;leaves low paid staff&nbsp;facing the&nbsp;stark choice of working while potentially infected or being unable to pay for food, rent or other bills.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Unite regional officer Mark Jaina said,&nbsp;\u00e2\u20ac\u015bUnite welcomes Bernard Matthews\u00e2\u20ac\u2122&nbsp;suspension of fares on worker buses to help prevent the spread of coronavirus. This decision was&nbsp;the&nbsp;result of collective pressure from Holton and Great Witchingham staff standing together in a union.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u00e2\u20ac\u015bWithout guarantees on the length of the fare suspension or a return to an affordable charge, however, many workers will be unwilling to gamble their place in a car share to sites not accessible by public transport.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u00e2\u20ac\u015bAs part of&nbsp;Ranjit Singh Boparan\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s billion-pound food business empire,&nbsp;Bernard Matthews should also be providing low paid staff with enough sick pay to self-isolate. Not to do so increases the risk of further outbreaks at Bernard Matthews and in the community.\u00e2\u20ac\u0165<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Bernard Matthews has suspended fares on company-subsidised buses to all of its sites to help prevent the spread of coronavirus through car sharing, following pressure from Unite.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":9151,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[489,983],"wps_subtitle":"Unite secures free Bernard Matthews bus travel to boost workers' Covid-19 safety","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24057"}],"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=24057"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24057\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":24059,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24057\/revisions\/24059"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/9151"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=24057"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=24057"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=24057"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}