- WORKER TELLS VOICE.WALES THAT MANY WORKERS ON THE FACTORY FLOOR STILL HAVE NO FACE MASKS OR VISORS.
- THERE ARE NOW OVER 300 CASES OF CONFIRMED COVID IN FOOD PROCESSING PLANTS IN WALES AND IN MAY A FACTORY WORKER FROM EAST TIMOR DIED OF CORONAVIRUS IN NORTHERN IRELAND.
- THE WORKER SAYS HE DOESN’T FEEL VALUED OR TREATED WELL AT ALL AND SAYS IT’S TOO SOON TO EASE LOCKDOWN.
By SC Cook
A worker at a meat factory in South Wales hit by a cluster of Covid 19 cases has spoken out about the shocking lack of PPE and protection for workers at the plant.
Yesterday health minister Vaughan Gething said that there had been 34 confirmed cases since April 25 at the Kepak meat processing plant in Merthyr Tydfil, including 8 in June.
The worker at the factory- who wished to remain anonymous – told voice.wales that some members of staff at the Two Sisters subsidiary plant still had no access to a face mask or a visor, despite working there for several weeks or months and being in close proximity to others.
He said some agency workers have asked for PPE but have not been told where they could get hold of any, saying the plant has run out of visors altogether.
Every morning staff are scanned with a laser that monitors their temperature, but the person conducting these tests also has no PPE. “The poor guy who takes people’s temperatures all day has no face mask or visor either.” the worker told us.
He went on to say that he believes the true number of Covid cases is higher than the 34 being reported as people are self isolating with symptoms and that the staff canteen had been much quieter recently.
He described seeing a group of 9 to 10 migrant workers in the lobby of the factory with suitcases, saying it “looked like they have been brought in quickly to plug a labour gap.”
The processing plant has a large migrant workforce from East Timor, Portugal, Indonesia, the Philippines and Eastern Europe. The worker described how many migrant workers are forced to live in cramped, shared accommodation and have been worried about the risks of contracting the disease.
In May, a worker from East Timor died of Coronavirus in a food factory in Northern Ireland. Last week it was reported that two separate sites in North Wales, Anglesey and Wrexham, had outbreaks of the disease with 200 and 70 confirmed cases respectively. The situation has made Anglesey council reverse any move to open its schools before the Summer break in order to halt the spread of the pandemic.
The outbreak in South Wales will raise alarm bells about the safety of easing lockdown, especially with Welsh Government pushing for schools to open up to all pupils from next week. Asked about the implications for easing lockdown, the worker at the factory told voice.wales that it would be ‘madness’ to open schools given the situation at his factory.
He went on to say how he doesn’t “feel valued or treated well at all” by company bosses, and that he believes co-workers will feel they have no choice but to work even if they develop Covid symptoms.
“I know a lot of people will do this due to poverty, insecure work and lack of state support for people who lose their jobs,” he said. “For me as a worker, Coronavirus has really laid bare what an uncaring and harsh society we have created for working class people and migrants.”
