Dear Member
Hi everyone! We hope that you and yours are well and that you are all coping as this crisis continues. We have several updates today related both to issues locally and some broader updates for you as well.
Today, on International Workers’ Memorial Day we, along with much of the country observed a minutes silence to remember and reflect upon all those workers who have lost their lives at work, including those who were lost due to Corona virus. In the thoughts of all her comrades at Wirral Unison was also our friend, Jane Edwards who passed away earlier this month following her battle with cancer. The cancer was linked to asbestos exposure which occurred in all likelihood in the workplace. Jane worked in the library service for over thirty years and was a Unison steward for many of these years. Throughout her own personal battle she continued to fight on behalf of members to protect their health, safety and wellbeing at work. We take inspiration from Jane today, remembering the dead and committing ourselves to fight for the living.
Homeworking and Home schooling?
Many of us are now working from home on a full time basis, for the foreseeable future and the challenges this may present are perhaps only just beginning to emerge. Today we consider just one of these challenges which is home schooling.
We know that many of our members will be trying to juggle working at home with the demands of managing childcare. The challenges, let’s be honest are immense, especially if you have children who are younger. Of course, some of these challenges may have their funny side. We are surely all now familiar with the occasions when a child or children rush into a room and interrupt an important video meeting as they desperately need to tell you there’s a FLY in the living room!! Of course, not every challenge is quite so amusing.
The following is an extract from just one email we have received in the last few days:
“the situation just isn’t working out for me or the children. There have been several tantrums, arguments, in fighting, toileting accidents and two injuries. This is not a usual situation. The children need almost constant supervision as they are becoming fed up with the constraints of the home, only leaving the house for daily exercise. The pressure is immense, with no respite.”
This is a situation that we’re sure many members can relate to. The demands of balancing child care and work are significant and sometimes something has to give. Please be reassured you are not alone and many other members are in the same situation. Whilst you are not super mum or super dad and you cannot be expected to do it all, we know you’re children are rightly your main priority.
We are mindful of the comment made from the council’s senior management when referring to home working “give us what you can” even if this is an hour or two a day. Employers know or should know that this is not a normal working situation and you cannot be as productive when you are also providing home schooling or child care for your children. Please do get in touch with us if you have any concerns in relation to this and please do not feel guilty, it’s hard, your children come first and you’re not the only one in this situation.
Pregnancy
We’ve heard about how COVID-19 affects the most vulnerable in our society, however one thing that is less clear is how the virus can potentially affect pregnant women.
It is known that pregnant woman who contract significant respiratory infections after are more likely to become seriously unwell. Given this information, the Government has taken the precautionary approach to include pregnant women in a vulnerable group. It is important to note however that there is a significant lack of evidence on COVID-19 in particular.
What is even less clear, is how the virus could affect the unborn child. Currently, there is no evidence to suggest that COVID-19 causes problems with a baby’s development or causes miscarriage. No previous coronavirus has been shown to cause foetal abnormalities and, while COVID-19 is new, there are no reports of an increased incidence of foetal abnormality.
This said, it is absolutely imperative to keep pregnant workers safe and there should absolutely be no exceptions. In the UK, there are significant protections in law for pregnant healthcare workers. These must be followed in relation to COVID-19. Employers should do everything possible to maintain the health and safety of their pregnant employees. The central aspect of this protection is based on a risk assessment of each individual pregnant worker’s working environment, their mental and physical health, and the role they play. Pregnant women should only be supported to continue working if the risk assessment advises that it is safe for them to do so. This means that employers must remove any risks, or else they should be offered suitable alternative work.
Government guidance places all pregnant women in the high risk category, whereby stringent social distancing should be exercised. Specifically for pregnant women after the 28 week gestation or with underlying health conditions such as heart or lung disease at any gestation, a more precautionary approach is advised. Women in this category should be recommended to stay at home, particularly those who are care workers, this may present opportunities to work flexibly from home (potentially in a different capacity) for example by undertaking telephone or videoconference consultations, or taking on administrative duties. If your employer cannot make reasonable adjustments that keep you safe in work, Wirral Unison will be pressing that you receive full pay until suitable, safe alternative arrangements can be made.
If you are a pregnant worker and are yet to have a risk assessment, or if you have any other concerns, please contact us for support.
Supporting adults with autism and learning disabilities
New guidance has been published for care workers and personal assistants who support adults with learning disabilities and autistic adults. The guidance will help care staff to keep people with learning disabilities and autistic people safe; support them to understand the changes they need to make during the Covid-19 outbreak; and protect their own wellbeing.
guidance-for-care-staff-supporting-adults-with-learning-disabilities-and-autistic-adults
Death in service payment
We hope you and your family never need to rely upon this information, but it is good that it has been introduced if the worst occurs.
The families of health and care workers on the frontline in England will now benefit from a new life insurance scheme during the pandemic, this has been introduced after significant pressure from health and social care unions including Unison at a national level.
The scheme recognises the increased risk faced by staff during the crisis and will cover Coronavirus related deaths of workers in frontline health and adult and children’s social care roles during the outbreak. It will cover staff who provide hands-on personal care for people who have contracted Coronavirus or work in health or care settings where the virus is present.
Bereaved family members will receive a £60,000 lump sum with the cost met by the government.
Within social care, the scheme will cover employees of publicly funded care homes, home care, directly employed carers including personal assistants and frontline child and family social workers. The scheme is aimed at those who die from Coronavirus during the course of their essential and lifesaving work. This includes those providing direct care as well as support staff such as cleaners who continue to carry out vital duties in these care environments.
Schools
The government have confirmed that there is no agreed plan for when schools may re-open to more pupils and have further confirmed that any decision in relation to this must be informed by scientific evidence. Nevertheless Unison at a national level is beginning to collate feedback from branches as to what measures need to be in place before schools can be reopened and what planning would need to precede this. Wirral Unison will be feeding our views into this process and reiterating our view that schools should not open until there is clear independent medical evidence that it is safe to do so. For more detailed information as to Wirral Unison’s stance on school’s reopening, we refer you to our email update of 22 April.
That’s all for today, as always we hope you are finding these updates useful and informative. Please get in touch with us regarding any of the above or indeed anything you need support with, during what continues to be a very difficult time for us all.
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Take care of yourselves and each other and we will be back with another update for you all tomorrow.
In solidarity!
Lois and Dave
Dave: davidnjones@wirral.gov.uk 07880199539
Lois: loisfounds1@wirral.gov.uk 07384512521
Published on: April 29, 2020