Unless governments take initiatives to enforce the wearing of face masks against the Omicron strain of the coronavirus would be “useless” said UNIONS.
- They warned that people must wear masks and it should be implemented as compulsory by all the governments as its one of the renewed measures. Without wearing face masks on public transport compulsorily there won’t be any positive outcome but with no governmental method of enforcing the regulation.
- However, according to unions, the front-line workers aren’t ones to blame or take responsibility. Moreover, they shouldn’t be in charge of enforcing the regulations instead leave them open to abuse and even violence if not follow the new measures.
- According to the report the mutant strain is already in Britain and started to infect. Britain now has three detected in the country.
- Transport union RMT said front-line members are facing “public anger” as they were dealing with passengers who refuse to comply to put face masks off.
- ‘We support the wearing of masks but there are major issues about enforcement and it’s our members left in the front line with angry passengers who refuse to comply, said RMT general secretary Mick Lynch.
- He also added that ‘The government must make the resources available to properly police this reintroduction of compulsory face coverings on our transport services.’
- Retail workers’ union Usdaw said the measure should be a “legal requirement,” and that it should not have been dumped when the government eased restrictions in England in July.
- Unite national officer for passenger transport Bobby Morton said, ‘It is not sufficient to announce that face masks will once again become compulsory this policy has got to be fully enforced to protect public health.
- ‘The government’s previous inconsistent messaging on face mask-wearing is almost certainly going to result in a high degree of non-compliance.
- ‘Unite’s advice to bus drivers is clear: it is not their role to enforce mask-wearing, their responsibility is to safely drive and operate the bus. The job of enforcing mask-wearing is that of the bus operator and the police.’
- Bobby Morton also condemned the government’s lifting of the measure before.
- Mr. Morton added that ‘Unite has consistently warned that the requirement to wear face masks should never have been removed while rates of Covid-19 remained high. It is only the arrival of the new variant which has forced the government to act.’
- Usdaw general secretary Paddy Lillis said, ‘Retail staff working with the public every day are deeply worried about catching Covid-19 and the arrival of the Omicron variant is a further concern.
- ‘Wearing a face covering should not be a personal preference, but a personal responsibility.’
- He reported that shopworkers were abused if asking customers to put on face masks and that they should not have to be responsible for “enforcing the law.”
- Mr. Lillis said, ‘We ask the public to follow the rules and respect shopworkers, abuse is not a part of their job. Many shop workers are at a greater risk of catching the virus and taking it home to their families.
- ‘Yet they have worked throughout the pandemic to keep the country supplied with essentials. These key workers must be valued, respected, and protected.’
- Shadow foreign secretary Lisa Nandy said Labor supported measures on wearing masks, but “desperately” wanted to see the government tighten up travel restrictions.
The new Covid-19 variant is here. As soon as the mutant Omicron strain emerged in South Africa the government has reintroduced restrictions. All flights of South Africa to Britain were canceled and, several other African countries were also banned.
