The General President of the Mauritius government employees’ union SEF/GSEA, Radhakrisna Sadien, has written an open letter to the Mauritius Prime Minister urging the government to take appropriate measures to protect workers and their families with a view to prevent its propagation in the Republic of Mauritius.
Read the letter • 18 April update on Covid 19 in Mauritius
UK transport union RMT has advised tens of thousands of workers in the rail and bus sector to stop work on safety grounds if employers do not provide protection from Covid-19. It says the union’s message to members follows escalating concerns that many employers are not taking steps to protect transport workers.
The RMT advice says rail and bus workers should stop work and invoke the “safe work procedure if employers do not follow key protection measures” including only conducting activities related to essential services, avoiding group and close promixity work and maintaining two metre separation of workers. Where this isn’t possible on essential jobs “then personal protective equipment such as gloves, eye defenders and masks [are] to be utilised by all workers in close proximity to provide mutual assurance and the time spent within two metres must be minimised and only for the purpose of the task. If full appropriate PPE is not available then work should not commence.”
RMT general secretary Mick Cash said “we have issued advice to our members in the rail and bus sectors that they should stop work on safety grounds if employers do not provide protection from Covid-19. That means that if they are not provided with PPE, including masks, eye defenders and gloves where necessary they should not be working.” He added: “Our members are increasingly concerned that many employers are not taking steps to protect transport workers despite rail and bus staff playing a key role in keeping people and goods moving in the fight against Covid-19.”
Citing the Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations 1999, the union advice notes: “Employees are protected by law if they decide that their work situation represents a threat of ‘serious or imminent danger’ and as a result of this belief they remove themselves to a place of safety. Protection is also given to trade union appointed health and safety representatives. RMT believes the current coronavirus–Covid-19 pandemic represents a real threat to life that can be deemed as ‘serious and imminent’.”
RMT news release and advice for rail and bus members.
In a special show about how the Covid-19 response is affecting working people in public transport, ITF urban transport director Alana Dave has spoken to Dan Mihadi.
Dan Mihadi is the general secretary of the Transport and Allied Workers’ Union (TAWU), Kenya, and he explains how daily life has changed in Nairobi and the challenges face by informal and formal public transport workers in his union.
But he has hope for the future: “We are demanding that this crisis leads to public transport coming into public hands, providing decent jobs, and training. This is an opportunity to make things better for working people,” he said.
As part of the ITF’s Our Public Transport programme, a statement and set of demands has been published in response to Covid-19, and a joint statement with employers.
https://www.itfglobal.org/en/news/podcast-covid-19-impact-informal-workers