Not at the expense of workers

Unite’s Peter Kavanagh discuss public transport and why workers must be safe returning to work

Reading time: 2 min

Last night (May 18) Unite regional secretary Peter Kavanagh (London and Eastern) told Sky News: “Unite wants to see the economy ramped up… but not at the expense of working people.”

Kavanagh told Sky’s Adam Boulton, “It’s in the interests of all our members to see the economy back up and running again. But we can only do that safely – it cannot be at the expense of working people.”

He added, “We need to look at staggered start times, but again that needs to be co-ordinated by government,” he stressed that voluntary codes just wouldn’t cut it.

He said Unite had processes in place that could make the static workplace safe – and had been in talks with government at the highest level – but he emphasised, “Unless we sort public transport out it could all be for nothing.”

Kavanagh concluded his interview by saying that all decent employers should be considering their expectations on how their employees could safely get to work during rush hour. Alternatives needed to be taken into account and employers should work with trade union reps, producing risk assessments, evaluating how best to keep workers safe.

WATCH FULL INTERVIEW HERE

 

By UNITElive team @unitetheunion.org

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