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SIPTU divisional organiser Greg Ennis has called for the immediate recommencement of COVID-19 testing for workers in the meat processing industry.
It was revealed on Wednesday that the increased demand for testing in the general population has seen the serial testing of workers paused since Tuesday 8 September.
SIPTU has said that the HSE has withdrawn without providing any advance notice of its decision to workers, their union or to public representatives in the Oireachtas.
Perfect vectors
Ennis said: "There have been 1,500 cases and 31 clusters within meat plants to date, with four clusters currently active. Outbreaks of COVID-19 are also linked to overcrowding and hot-bedding in houses located close to several meat plants.
"Failure to reconvene weekly testing of meat plant workers could well result in another surge of cases across the industry and in the wider community. It is well established that the meat industry generates the perfect vectors for transmission of the virus.”
The union warned that the testing and tracing system is "patently inadequate" and has never achieved the 15,000 tests per day as promised by the previous Government.
“We are still awaiting an efficient testing system with the winter flu season approaching. Our members are justifiably fearful for their health, their families and their livelihoods in the essential meat and wider food production sector," Ennis concluded.
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