Breaking News: Covid Plus Joint Trade Union proposals
Dear Barnet UNISON members
The following Joint Trade Union proposals were sent to Barnet Council on Wednesday 4 November 2020.
We will update members as soon as we have a response.
UNISON National issue this statement on schools which you can view here
Joint Trade Union statement
COVID Plus. Front line workers
For the purposes of this proposal frontline means workers who cannot work from home.
- All staff who are deemed clinically vulnerable or extremely clinically vulnerable to stay at home for lockdown on full pay.
- All frontline staff to receive a monthly COVID payment for the duration of the Pandemic in recognition of the important role they playing in the provision of frontline services and the simple fact frontline workers can’t work from home and have to bear the costs of travel and navigate the risks of travel on public transport.
- All frontline workers to have weekly COVID tests.
- All frontline workers to receive full pay if they have to isolate or are unable to work due to COVID.
- All frontline workers to have unlimited access to counselling services during this pandemic in recognition of the mental stress working with COVID brings to this workforce.
- If staff have to work from home due to fact their children are sent home from their school due to COVID then they should remain on full pay.
- All COVID related absences whilst recorded should not be used for sickness absence recording.
- Any staff having to make emergency visits abroad to visit a dying relative or attend a funeral should receive full pay during the quarantine period.
COVID Plus for home workers.
- All staff who are deemed clinically vulnerable or extremely clinically vulnerable to stay at home for lockdown on full pay.
- All workers to have unlimited access to counselling services during this pandemic in recognition of the mental stress working with COVID brings to this workforce.
- If staff have to work from home due to fact their children are sent home from their school due to COVID then they should remain on full pay and it should be recognised that the worker has a reduced capacity to carry out their work duties.
- All COVID related absences whilst recorded should not be used for sickness absence recording.
- Any staff having to make emergency visits abroad to visit a dying relative or attend a funeral should receive full pay during the quarantine period.
- To recognise the damaging effect working from home has on both physical activity levels and mental health. Also to recognise that the normal practice of leaving home to travel to and from work also of travelling between venues for meetings are now lost to the home worker leading to a more compressed working routine with little opportunity to leave the home. Therefore give a one hour paid daily break to home working staff in addition to their lunch break to enable them to have down time from their computer screens and so that they can physically leave their home for a walk or partake in some form of exercise.
- Protocol for structuring virtual meetings to enable time away from the screen e.g. starting meetings at quarter past the hour implying that there should be a 15min break before the meeting starts.
- Supervision to incorporate questions relating to mental health wellbeing and physical health as well as checking on the home set up (it should not be assumed home set up is constantly the same).
- For a designated person to randomly contact 10 workers per week to find out from them their experience with respect to supervision, welfare checks etc.
- Staff with children at home should be given a designated amount of time to dedicate to their child’s learning and leisure.
- Key workers working from home who have a clinically or extremely clinically vulnerable child should be allowed to continue working from home if schools are closed but only open to key worker’s children.
Stay safe
Best wishes
John Burgess
Branch Secretary
Barnet UNISON.