Unions have threatened to walk off the job if employers do not ramp up workplace safety to deal with omicron amid concerns that new rule changes are putting workers’ health at risk.
Unions have threatened to walk off the job if employers do not ramp up workplace safety requirements and offer staff free rapid antigen tests amid concerns that relaxed coronavirus rules are putting workers’ health at risk.
National union leaders on Monday demanded all employers carry out urgent new risk assessments for omicron and provide workers with free rapid tests, N95 masks and improved ventilation following an emergency meeting of the peak union body to address the surge in coronavirus cases. ACTU secretary Sally McManus, centre. with ACTU president MIchele O’Neil and assistant secretary Liam O’Brien. She said much tighter safety rules were needed for omicron.But businesses have accused unions of trying to “inflame the situation” with threats of stoppages and attacked their proposed measures as unaffordable for many firms that were struggling to stay afloat. Industrial Relations Minister Michaelia Cash said that “after months of lockdowns across Australia, it is disappointing that union leaders are now complaining about Australian workers going back to work”.Australian Council of Trade Unions secretary Sally McManus told reporters on Monday that unions were witnessing some employers placing workers in harm’s way by “making people go to work when they’re sick”. “It’s clear that omicron requires a different response to the response we had in 2021 – that response needs to be a much bigger tightening of health and safety provisions in workplaces,” she said. “For those employers who will not work with us ... the union movement will do what is necessary, up to and including ceasing work, in order to keep workplaces safe but also to stop the spread of the virus in our community.” Unions have raised concerns over relaxed isolation rules, endorsed by national cabinet, for asymptomatic critical workers who are close contacts to address severe staff shortages.direct abattoir workers who tested positive to COVID-19Australian Industry Group chief executive Innes Willox said “while of course workers cannot be required to work in an unsafe situation, the ACTU’s threats of work stoppages are not appropriate”.“Instead of issuing edicts from afar that inflame the situation, add to uncertainty and which, if adopted would make things worse for employers, employees and the economy, we should allow employers to continue to calmly take sensible measures to maintain COVID-safe workplaces,” he said. He cautioned that many businesses were struggling to survive and preserve jobs and could not afford free rapid tests for all workers. “The idea employers should bear the costs for potentially limitless test kits is unworkable and demonstrates the lack of understanding of the pressures businesses are under,” he said. Employers were also only required to address workplace safety with “reasonably practicable” measures, he said, and “one size does not fit all”. Business Council of Australia president Tim Reed rejected that the relaxed isolation rules were putting workers at risk. “The government is taking quite thoughtful and measured steps as we learn to be in this next phase of living with the virus,” he told the ABC.“The scenario now has changed as we are at that 95 per cent vaccination rate and the health outcomes, we’re seeing the benefits of that. So, you would expect that the government will continue to assess based on the facts and based on the health advice, the opportunities to reopen the economy, because as the Prime Minister said right from the outset, managing COVID is about managing lives and livelihoods. We’ve got to get that balance right.” Under the Fair Work Act, workers can legally stop work if they have reasonable concern about an imminent threat to health and safety. Workers at distribution centres supplying supermarkets and retailers have already used the trigger to stop work several times in the past two years due to concerns about COVID-19 safety but not since the omicron variant. However, concern is growing, with education unions last week accusing the Morrison government of making teachers “cannon fodder” for the virus by relaxing isolation rules at schools and childcare, and aged-care unions saying workers wereCo workplace safety lawyer Michael Tooma said that just because the new rules were in public health orders did not prevent workers from legally stopping unsafe work under the Fair Work Act. “The risk assessments that drive public health orders statewide take into account the impact on health and economy and essential services. All those things are relevant to the Department of Health assessments but they’re not factors that can be relevant to an enterprise level,” he said.He cautioned “care needs to be taken against blindly adopting that [public health order] approach in circumstances where there is greater risk to the vulnerable”. The union leaders said in a statement they will require each workplace to consult with unions on a new risk assessment for omicron and that included state-specific plans were appropriate. For workplaces where working from home is not an option, employers must provide free rapid tests to all workers once supply is resolved. The union leaders said workers were reporting that they are exhausted and feel abandoned by governments who have encouraged “let it rip” policies. They also condemned the Morrison government for refusing to respond to union demands to provide free and accessible rapid tests, improved masks, fix close contact definition and restoring business and worker support. But Senator Cash said the government had always placed safety at the forefront and worked with unions on the pandemic responses. “This shameless attempt by union leaders to pretend they have not had the chance to work with the federal government is a charade,” she said. “It is disappointing that union leaders have chosen to play politics with health policy, which was agreed at national cabinet by Commonwealth, state and territory governments, instead of supporting Australians get back to work.“Need to know. Our daily reporting, in your inbox.
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