{"id":7526,"date":"2020-03-06T13:57:58","date_gmt":"2020-03-06T02:57:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/development.uwu.org.au\/staging\/?p=7526"},"modified":"2025-07-28T13:59:23","modified_gmt":"2025-07-28T03:59:23","slug":"workers-must-be-supported-through-coronavirus","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/development.uwu.org.au\/staging\/archive\/workers-must-be-supported-through-coronavirus\/","title":{"rendered":"Workers must be supported through coronavirus"},"content":{"rendered":"

MEDIA RELEASE<\/strong><\/h4>\n

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Workers must be supported through coronavirus<\/strong><\/p>\n

United Workers Union \u2013 the union for 150,000 Australians in a range of essential industries \u2013 is calling for workers to be supported as concerns around coronavirus (COVID-19) escalate nationally.<\/p>\n

Union Director Carolyn Smith said now was the time for all Australians to get behind the workers who keep our communities running.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur members\u2019 work reaches millions of people every single day of their lives. It is working people who are on the frontline of the coronavirus threat,\u201d Ms Smith said.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe need significant back-up and support \u2013 from employers and from Government \u2013 to deal with this global health crisis.\u201d<\/p>\n

The union is calling for the following key commitments to be put in place immediately to ensure workers are safe and don\u2019t lose out under this global health crisis:<\/p>\n

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  • If workers cannot work due to coronavirus risks, they should not lose pay<\/li>\n
  • The Federal Government needs to support workers and the community<\/li>\n
  • Workers must be entitled to avoid unsafe workplace situations<\/li>\n
  • Workers must be consulted about employer response to coronavirus<\/li>\n
  • Workers falling into special categories (including higher risk and carers) must be supported<\/li>\n
  • Workers must be supplied with appropriate personal protective equipment (PPE).<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n

    Ms Smith said the union would be writing to hundreds of employers and politicians, reminding them of their responsibility to ensure the safety and wellbeing of workers.<\/p>\n

    \u201cAlready we have seen employers and the Federal Government try to shirk their role in supporting our workers through these challenging times,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

    \u201cAny Federal Government assistance package must be targeted to supporting workers, including casual and low paid.<\/p>\n

    \u201cInstead Scott Morrison and the Federal Coalition is focussed on helping big business get out of paying sick leave. Airport workers have had to fight for PPE and had their shifts cut, while cleaners have been asked to clean the Diamond Princess cruise ship without any safety information.<\/p>\n

    \u201cWe want to reassure our members that ensuring they are safe and fairly paid is our top priority.\u201d<\/p>\n

    Read a full copy of the union\u2019s position statement on COVID-19 at unitedworkers.org.au\/COVID19.<\/p>\n

    United Workers Union members work in frontline industries including education, aged care, health care, emergency services, cleaning, security, logistics and farms.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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    ENDS<\/strong><\/p>\n

    Media contact: 1300 898 633, media@unitedworkers.org.au<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    MEDIA RELEASE   Workers must be supported through coronavirus United Workers Union \u2013 the union for 150,000 Australians in a range of essential industries \u2013 is calling for workers to be supported as…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":59,"featured_media":6438,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"content-type":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[202],"tags":[97,105],"class_list":["post-7526","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-archive","tag-aged-care","tag-cleaning"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/development.uwu.org.au\/staging\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7526","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/development.uwu.org.au\/staging\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/development.uwu.org.au\/staging\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/development.uwu.org.au\/staging\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/59"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/development.uwu.org.au\/staging\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7526"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/development.uwu.org.au\/staging\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7526\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":65096,"href":"https:\/\/development.uwu.org.au\/staging\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7526\/revisions\/65096"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/development.uwu.org.au\/staging\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/6438"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/development.uwu.org.au\/staging\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7526"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/development.uwu.org.au\/staging\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7526"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/development.uwu.org.au\/staging\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7526"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}