Coronavirus: Union issues Greencore grievance after positive test

A union has put in a formal grievance against a sandwich firm it said failed to tell staff after a manager tested positive for Covid-19.

Members of the Bakers, Food and Allied Workers Union (BFAWU) said managers at Greencore in Northampton had been informed, but not production staff.

Regional officer George Attwall said staff were "scared".

Greencore said it "immediately contact-traced everyone" who had been in contact with the affected man.

The manager tested positive on Friday and no-one else has received a positive test since.

The company confirmed "a colleague at our Northampton site has tested positive for Covid-19".

The BBC has seen a text message sent to all Greencore workers by a member of staff which says the manager with Covid-19 had "been working on the shop floor mixing [with] production staff, potentially spreading the virus".

It said "HR have failed to notify production staff".

In an email seen by the BBC, union branch president Andrew Williams said the incident had caused "unnecessary stress" for workers.

"They are unhappy the company has only informed management to take a test and not production staff," he added.

Mr Williams lodged a "formal grievance from the Greencore branch on behalf of all our members".

Greencore, which has 1,800 staff, said it had followed government guidance and "advised all colleagues at the site to register for a test if they are experiencing any symptoms".

The spokesman said: "We immediately contact traced everyone who has recently come into contact with the colleague and they are now also self-isolating as a precautionary measure."

He said a deep-clean of all the areas in which the man who had tested positive had been working had been carried out.

"We have a range of self-distancing measures in place within our facilities, and are doing everything that we can to ensure the safety and wellbeing of our employees," he added.

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