Two hundred frontline workers at Westmead Hospital had to take industrial action before management agreed to supply them with personal protective equipment (PPE).聽
Cleaners had been asking for shoe covers, hair nets, properly fitted masks and access to showers.
聽told Radio 2GB聽on July 16 that cleaning staff were fearful of their own health as well as that of their families. NSW Health told the cleaners that they would not be given PPE, so they placed a ban on entering the COVID-19 unit.
鈥淣ow they have the insurance that they鈥檝e got the right PPE 鈥 and this is good news for us.聽That we had to fight about it is disgusting,鈥 Gock-Young said.
Workers could not get properly-fitted masks, and were told they could not shower at the hospital before going home. This would have heightened the risk of contracting and spreading COVID-19 to their families and beyond.
The HSU only imposed the work bans after the union had repeatedly attempted to negotiate with hospital management.聽
HSU NSW secretary Gerard Hayes said the attitude of Westmead management and NSW Health was 鈥渋ncomprehensible鈥.
鈥淥ur members are asking for basic health and safety provisions. The fact their requests have been denied is incomprehensible.
The pandemic has highlighted the fact that聽cleaning聽and sanitising spaces is essential, he said. 鈥淭his could not be more important than in a COVID unit where patients are being treated.鈥
鈥淲e are in the middle of an unprecedented outbreak [of the highly infectious Deltra strain] in NSW,鈥 Hayes said.
鈥淭he absolute bare minimum we can expect is that our frontline workers are protected.聽Cleaners聽are just as important to our health system as doctors and nurses, and should be treated with the respect they deserve.鈥