Your contributions will help us continue to deliver the stories that are important to you
Sunday 20 September 2020
Siptu division organiser Greg Ennis said that serial testing must be maintained at meat plants going forward.
Sinn Féin’s Pearse Doherty said meat barons are playing with people’s lives.
The serial testing has been suspended in order to meet the surge in demand for community testing.
Sinn Féin’s Matt Carthy described the decision as “reckless” and “inexplicable”.
Mass testing at meat plants has indicated levels of infection among workers is now very low.
Alan Kelly TD said we can’t have a situation where workers are going into meat plants having taken paracetamol or Calpol to hide their temperature.
The facility has operated at a “limited capacity” since the first case was identified on 14 August.
Cranswick Country Foods in Cullybackey is set to close temporarily from Saturday.
Earlier today, Health Minister Stephen Donnelly confirmed a further 120 cases of Covid-19 in Ireland.
Focus has shifted from the meat industry to the pub and hospitality sector since the weekend.
This week’s episode of the podcast discusses how meat plants work and how staff are treated.
This comes after clusters at four meat plants led to a localised lockdown in Kildare, Offaly and Laois.
Meat industry representatives appeared before the special Dáil committee on Covid this afternoon.
Meat plants accused of ‘union-busting tactics’ by a trade union representative.
Union representatives will tell committee members that the industry contains ‘unrivalled vectors’ for the transmission of the virus.
The Oireachtas Committee on Covid-19 Response will also hear from Department of Health officials on the re-opening of schools today.
There has been some confusion about the level of contact tracing at meat processing plants.
More than 1,000 cases of the virus have been reported across 20 facilities nationwide.
Minister Simon Harris said yesterday that there “are a number of cases in which there are contact and communications difficulties”.
Last night it emerged that 828 workers have been diagnosed across the country.
There have been reports of scuffles at protests outside plants today.
MORE THAN THREE-quarters of people would support the government looking into the prospect of a four-day work week, according to a new survey.
This means doing the same job for the same salary, but over four days rather than five.
There have been calls for this idea to be explored already and the Four Day Week Ireland campaign today released details on its public attitude survey conducted last month.
Two out of three respondents said a four-day work week is “realistic and achievable” in the medium term.
67% of employers said they support the idea and 46% said it would be “feasible” to trial in their workplace.
“The four-day week, with no loss of pay, offers the potential of a genuinely better future for workers and employers alike,” said Joe O’Connor, director of campaigning with Fórsa trade union.
What may once have seemed like a radical concept is now, for many, a reasonable and rational ambition. The Covid-19 pandemic has further disrupted societal and workplace norms, while illustrating the potential for very different models of work.
So today we’re asking: Would you support a four-day work week?
Poll Results:
Share your story: voices@thejournal.ie
Increasing amounts of sun
Max: 14 °C
Min: 11 °C
Mostly sunny
Max: 16 °C
Min: 8 °C
Some sun; fog early in the day
Max: 20 °C
Min: 12 °C
