The NSW government's decision to allow essential asymptomatic close contacts to come back to work without isolating is "reckless", a union says.
Key points:
- Union says the isolation changes will cause a rise in COVID-19 infections
- The Premier flags the potential for similar changes in other industries if the need arises
- A grocery store owner says he is working close to 100 hours a week to source supplies
The COVID-19 exemption is now in force for critical workers in the food, logistics and manufacturing sectors who become close contacts, similar to those previously introduced for health workers.
However, the Transport Workers Union said scrapping isolation requirements was "beyond reckless".
"Workers are being thrown to the wolves by a government that continues to ignore all the warnings," the union's national secretary, Michael Kaine, said.
"We know, even if you're asymptomatic, you can still spread the virus. Requiring potentially sick people to go to work won't make supply chains healthy."
Australian Council of Trade Unions (ACTU) acting secretary Liam O'Brien said already exhausted workers were concerned the new rules would only cause infections to rise and further issues with the supply chain.
"All we are going to do is add and increase the infections that are happening in workplaces," Mr O'Brien said.
"That will, in the medium term, cripple our supply chains.
"[Employees] are only going to be even more anxious about catching COVID at work."
Premier Dominic Perrottet has defended the decision, saying it was a necessary measure to ensure the state has continued access to essential goods amid mass shortages of products in supermarkets across the country.
"We have to ensure distribution networks are secure. We've seen globally this is a substantial challenge," Mr Perrottet said.
"I believe the changes we made today get that balance right."
He aslo flagged further changes in other industries, if needed, but said the new rules today were "incredibly proportionate".
"If we need to make further changes, we will," he said.
"The best thing we can do is remain open. We need society to remain open."
Workers will only be eligible to leave self-isolation if their employer determines their absence from the workplace poses a high risk of disruption to the delivery of critical services or activities, and they are unable to work from home.
NSW Health said the new rules take effect immediately and apply to critical workers in the following sectors:
- agriculture (biosecurity and food safety personnel undertaking critical duties)
- manufacturing (production and manufacturing of food, beverages, groceries, cleaning and sanitary products)
- transport, postal and warehousing (food logistics, delivery and grocery fulfilment)
- emergency services.
Petersham grocery store owner John Chedid said he was hopeful that issues with the supply chain would improve, with shortages in fish and meat causing significant stress.
"I'm working nearly 100 hours a week to provide whatever I have to, to service my people," Mr Chedid said.
"It's a lot of hours, a lot of effort, a lot of time to be able to get what we need to get. It's not easy at all."
He said the newly introduced public health orders would be "risky" for workers that it applied to.
"Most of the time, I won't be able to sleep at night time thinking about it," he said.
"How to protect my business, how to protect my customers, how to protect ourselves and our staff.
"But … it's not in my control — nothing I can do about it."
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2022-01-09 09:33:45Z
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