Union bosses say key workers should ignore exemptions and stay at home during ...

Union bosses say key workers should ignore exemptions and stay at home during ...
Union bosses say key workers should ignore exemptions and stay at home during ...

Union bosses are urging key workers to ignore the Government's exemptions from self-isolation and stay home for 10 days if they are 'pinged' by the NHS Covid app, in a move that threatens disruption for shoppers, commuters and holidaymakers.

Leaders of the UK's biggest unions, including the RMT, Unison and Usdaw are telling critical workers in transport, food and border control among other sectors to quarantine if they are contacted by the app, citing fears they could become infected in the workplace.

Steve Hedley, the RMT's senior assistant general-secretary, has threatened strike action over the exemption scheme, telling the Telegraph: 'Why should our people be infected with Covid? We have discussed the possibility of taking action at a senior level, and I can say that nothing has been ruled out.'

Key workers are able to avoid house-arrest via a Downing Street scheme launched amid mounting fears over the chaos to key infrastructure caused by the so-called 'pingdemic' after more than 600,000 people were told to self-isolate by the NHS app last week.

Policing Minister Kit Malthouse has already been forced to apologise for delays at the border as families set off on the first weekend of the summer holidays, which were branded 'total chaos' by travellers and which he blamed on the 'pingdemic'.  

Paddy Lillis, general secretary of retail and food manufacturing union Usdaw, said staff would be encouraged to stay at home rather than return to work and said: 'Usdaw does not believe that the current situation in the food supply chain is critical or warrants the sector being placed on the exemption list.' 

Christina McAnea, the general secretary of Unison, told the newspaper: 'Anyone pinged or called by Test and Trace should isolate. Staying at home protects colleagues, neighbours, friends and everyone else too. No one should be forced into work when isolating, even those employees on the exempt list.'

Ministers will tomorrow discuss the growing chaos across the UK's critical infrastructure at a meeting of Covid-O, the Cabinet subcommittee handling pandemic operations. 

Union chiefs are urging key workers to ignore the Government's exemptions from self-isolation and stay home if they are 'pinged' by the NHS Covid app, in a move that threatens disruption for shoppers, commuters and holidaymakers

Union chiefs are urging key workers to ignore the Government's exemptions from self-isolation and stay home if they are 'pinged' by the NHS Covid app, in a move that threatens disruption for shoppers, commuters and holidaymakers

Food industry leaders claim they are yet to receive further details about which workers will be allowed to skip isolation rules if they are 'pinged' by the NHS Covid-App. Pictured: Empty soft drinks shelves in Tesco in Cardiff on Friday

Food industry leaders claim they are yet to receive further details about which workers will be allowed to skip isolation rules if they are 'pinged' by the NHS Covid-App. Pictured: Empty soft drinks shelves in Tesco in Cardiff on Friday 

The guidance lists 16 sectors: energy, civil nuclear, digital infrastructure, food production and supply, waste, water, veterinary medicines, essential chemicals, essential transport, medicines, medical devices, clinical consumable supplies, emergency services, border control, essential defence and local government

The guidance lists 16 sectors: energy, civil nuclear, digital infrastructure, food production and supply, waste, water, veterinary medicines, essential chemicals, essential transport, medicines, medical devices, clinical consumable supplies, emergency services, border control, essential defence and local government

Industry bosses have been calling for an emergency plan to tackle the impact of the 'pingdemic' on the UK's food supply network has been an 'absolute disaster' and has done 'more harm than good'.

Food industry leaders claim they are yet to receive further details from the Government about which workers will be allowed to skip isolation rules if they are 'pinged' by the NHS Covid app.

They also say hundreds of businesses which are to be allowed to take part in the scheme have not yet been briefed on the full details.

It comes after the Government bowed to growing pressure from the industry by allowing a key-worker exemption for food supply chain workers. Instead of being forced straight into isolation when 'pinged', food supply chain workers, along with a handful of other key workers, will instead be allowed to take part in daily testing. 

Up to 10,000 staff, from across 500 different sites, are expected to qualify for the scheme. However supermarket workers are not included. Testing sites are due to be set up at 15 'crucial' supermarket depots as of Monday.

The move came after it was revealed how more than a million adults across the UK have been forced into isolation in the last week - 600,000 of which have been 'pinged' by the NHS Covid-19 app.

The sheer number of workers being forced into isolation - even if they never end up having Covid - has sparked fears of a disruption to the food supply chain and empty supermarket shelves in some areas.

But plans by ministers to fix the issue have today come under fire by industry leaders, who have criticised the Government over a 'lack of communication'. 

James Bielby, of the Federation of Wholesale Distribution, which supplies food to outlets other than supermarkets, told the Observer newspaper that the industry still had no idea who is  on the list of exempted groups.

He also said that of the 500 businesses supposedly included, only 3 per cent had actually been notified.

Mr Bielby said: 'It's total chaos. There are 15 businesses who were part of the initial run through [of the scheme] on Friday, but there's supposed to be 500 businesses in total, it's entirely opaque.' 

Meanwhile, Shane Brennan, chief executive of the Cold Chain Federation, the organisation representing companies that move frozen and chilled foods, said: 'Several days after the prime minister told us the food supply chain was critical and would be exempt, we still don't have a definitive list of who will be exempt and what is required of them. 

'Businesses are fighting to keep food on shelves, and I regret that despite the best intentions in some places, government has done more harm than good.'  

It comes as frontline businesses and services paralysed by pingdemic chaos will get access to 200 new testing sites from Monday. 

The Government's emergency plan to tackle the pingdemic's impact on the food supply industry has been an 'absolute disaster' and has done more harm than good, industry bosses have today claimed. Pictured: A shopper walks past a row of empty shelves in ASDA Cardiff on Friday)

The Government's emergency plan to tackle the pingdemic's impact on the food supply industry has been an 'absolute disaster' and

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