Global worker unions are calling for new measures to protect worker rights it says may be impacted by the coronavirus outbreak.
The Council of Global Unions (CGU), which represents some 200m workers worldwide, has issued a joint statement calling on governments to act together and through multilateral institutions to shore up the economy and keep people in work at a time when the International Monetary Fund (IMF) is warning the Covid-19 outbreak could result in an economic crash similar to the 2008 recession.
“The global economy needs economic stimulus that reaches the real economy, workers and small businesses and prioritises employment, livelihoods and communities. Income support for all workers, including for part-time, migrant, non-resident, precarious, ‘gig’ and informal workers, is essential,” says the CGU.
“Workers are on the frontline of the economic, social and health impacts of the Covid-19 coronavirus. Failure to protect them will increase the spread of the disease. Special provision must be made to immediately extend paid sick-leave entitlements to workers who lack them and to improve sick leave provisions where they exist as well as to ensure working conditions and arrangements that provide protection.”
As the impact of the virus spreads further, dialogue between unions, employers and government and collective bargaining are “vitally important” in protecting workers’ health and their rights at work, it adds.
Specifically, its statement calls upon governments to:
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By GlobalData- Immediately extend paid sick leave entitlements, maintain incomes and extend social protection to all workers, including formal, ‘gig’, precarious and informal workers, regardless of their employment status;
- Enact stimulus packages with state spending that aims to sustain jobs and the economy, protecting wages, the welfare of workers, and small- and medium-sized businesses (SMEs); and,
- Cooperate and engage with multilateral institutions and increase aid to countries less able to respond to the threats posed by Covid-19 and ensure that the multilateral financial institutions assess national needs and respond appropriately.
It recommends employers:
- Recognise and bargain with trade unions to identify threats to workers health, rights and welfare, and to develop and implement workplace responses;
- Recognise and exercise their duty of care for all workers in their business and supply chains and maintain contracts with suppliers, prioritising the rights and welfare of these workers in their response to the threats posed by Covid-19;
- Involve workers’ representatives in processes to identify, prevent, mitigate and account for Covid-19 threats and the evaluation of employer and government responses;
- Ensure health protections and plans are in place and are followed without exception;
- Protect wages and full pay for all workers through a variety of means, mutually agreed through collective bargaining;
- Guarantee paid leave, in the form of sick pay or holiday pay, from the first day of leave, for any workers threatened or infected by Covid-19;
- Establish compensation funds for all workers, including non-standard forms of employment and work-related contracts, that are adversely impacted by Covid-19 and the responses to it; and,
- Offer customised and responsible workplace and working arrangements for all workers.
“All workers, where necessary, should be provided free medical testing, treatment, training, equipment and facilities for training, especially if they are performing medical services. Special attention must be given to the situation of migrant workers, many of whom are particularly vulnerable. The privacy and personal information of workers must be protected as they undergo medical and other examinations and checks as part of responses to the threat posed by Covid-19. Workers must be able to return to their habitual place of work as soon as is practicably possible should local and/or national containment measures financially or logistically inhibit them from doing so.”
