Union: Shopping It is risking lives
The leader of a shop workers’ union has criticised supermarkets for failing to enforce Covid restrictions while accusing some customers of using stores as a social venue to meet friends.
Stewart Forrest, Scotland’s divisional officer for shop workers’ union Usdaw (Union of Shop, Distributive and Allied Workers), said many stores had not reintroduced one-way systems and strict socialdistancing measures seen in the first lockdown despite soaring infection caused by a swiftspreading variant of the virus. Mr Forrest, who sits on the Scottish Trades Union Congress advisory group that meets regularly with government ministers, fears for the safety of workers.
An outbreak at a Tesco branch in Greenock was linked to the deaths of two workers last week. A man and a woman died within days of each other. The death of Ann Weir was announced by her daughter, Danielle, who paid tribute to her “kind and beautiful” mum. More than 500 retail staff contracted Covid in the past seven days, according to official statistics, making it the second most highrisk employment sector after health and social care. Contact tracers also linked more than 1,200 cases to retail in the past two weeks, making it the second most common “setting”. Mr Forrest said: “A lot of our members have been seriously ill. One of our members who works in a Tesco supermarket in the west of Scotland died last week. There is great concern among our members in supermarkets. We’ve had a high volume of calls from our members who say things need to be tightened up. “There is a difference in this lockdown. There has been a slippage in enforcing restrictions in supermarkets. If you go back to last March when restrictions were introduced there was a lot more attention paid to the number of people allowed in supermarkets, to hand sanitising and to ensuring one-way systems were in place. There were even security guards making sure shoppers were adhering to restrictions. “Some of the bigger supermarkets are starting to implement that this week, which Usdaw welcomes, as long as it’s not being put on to our members to police it, because the number of assaults and verbal abuse cases against workers has doubled.”
Mr Forrest said some customers were using supermarkets as a place to meet because the lockdown has led to the closure of non-essential retail and the hospitality sector.
He added: “Shopping has become a day out for some people but it shouldn’t be. There is anecdotal evidence people are going to supermarkets to meet up with other people. Shopping should be seen as a necessity, not a day out. The definition of what is an essential shopping trip is being stretched and we have raised this with the Scottish Government.”
Dr Zeshan Qureshi, who worked in
the intensive care unit at St Thomas’ Hospital in London during the pandemic and is co-author of a report by the Oxford Centre for Evidence Based Medicine which found social distancing can be ineffective in stopping the spread of the virus, said: “Supermarkets have all the hallmarks of a high-risk setting for coronavirus spread. They are indoor environments where there is social mixing and mutual touching of products.
“People are also in supermarkets for a long period of time and there often isn’t good ventilation. If air is static any coronavirus in the air sticks
around. If you are in an environment like that for long enough, no matter how far apart from people, you are at risk of contracting coronavirus. Some scientists believe there is no safe distance in indoor environments that are poorly ventilated. It is more important now than ever to adhere to coronavirus guidelines for supermarkets.”
The Scottish Government said: “We are committed to ensuring these environments remain safe for both the public and those who work in them. We have ongoing dialogue with the supermarkets and this has
been the case throughout the pandemic. This ranges from collaboration to deliver food to those shielding through to discussion on a range of challenges, changes and issues related to the pandemic, for example discussion of changes to levels. Everyone can play their part by sticking to the guidance.”
All the major supermarkets told The Sunday Post they had maintained robust safety measures throughout the crisis. Tesco said: “Since the start of the pandemic, we have done everything possible to keep our customers and colleagues safe, and have
made significant investments in safety and social distancing measures across every one of our stores so people can shop safely and with confidence.”
Morrisons said: “Since the start of the pandemic we have introduced and consistently maintained thorough and robust safety measures in all our stores.”
Asda said: “We are not taking the safety measures in our stores any less seriously than we did at the start of the pandemic and, with the experience we gained last year, we are able to better protect our customers now.”