At Unite Legal Services, we’ve collated the latest news and information regarding employment matters and workers’ rights in relation to coronavirus COVID-19 developments.
24 November 2021
2022 transport strike looms for capital with workers angered by threats to jobs, pay and pensions
London’s transport workers will descend on parliament on Wednesday 1 December at a joint transport union rally to warn that attacks on staff pensions and conditions will light the blue touch paper for coordinated capital-wide strikes early in 2022.
The strike threat comes as Transport for London (TfL) and Boris Johnson’s department for transport (DfT) battle it out over a fourth TfL funding deal amid fears that bus and underground services could be slashed without urgent government investment to plug a £1.9bn funding gap, caused by the decimation of passenger numbers during the pandemic and TfL’s over-reliance for funding from fares.
The current TfL emergency funding deal expires on 11 December.
28 November 2021
Public transport face mask rules must be fully enforced
Commenting on the government’s announcement that face masks will once again be compulsory on public transport, Unite national officer for passenger transport, Bobby Morton, said:
“The government has got to walk the walk and not just talk the talk. It is not sufficient to announce that face masks will once again become compulsory, this policy has got to be fully enforced in order 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 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.”
Get more support
For more information on how we are fighting to protect the health and safety, and economic stability of our members during the coronavirus COVID-19 crisis, please visit the Unite the Union advice hub.
COVID-19 personal injury claims
Unite has set up a specialist legal team to advise and represent members who have suffered injury as a result of COVID-19.
If you have suffered injury from developing COVID-19, or have tragically lost a family member to the condition, then please call Unite’s COVID-19 PI team on 0800 709 007.
