Workers at the Treasury fearful of a possible mass Covid-19 outbreak, following management’s ‘full capacity’ mandate!

“Just looking for some common sense from higher management… You pass away today and by tomorrow someone else is by your desk!” these were the words of a frustrated and concerned employee at the Ministry of Finance, Treasury Division.

Last week, via phone interviews with the Public Services Association (PSA), many employees at the Treasury Division expressed their concern and dissatisfaction for what they are calling, “a lack of common sense” by the Treasury’s higher management. It has been reported that management had unofficially called out employees to work in full capacity, three days for the week, as of today. According to staff, the Treasury Division has on average 400 employees when operating at full capacity.

The PSA, represented by Industrial Relations Officer (IRO), Aaron Singh, stated that staff should only be rotated on a maximum of fifty percent capacity according to the Prime Minister’s mandate. He said that anything contrary to the PM’s mandate would be in contravention of the Public Health Guidelines.

“We want to implore management to operate in accordance to the Public Health guidelines in order to prevent Covid-19 spikes amongst staff and the wider public. We ask that management review and adjust their rosters accordingly.” Said IRO Singh.

Employees believe that management is operating inconsiderately, without any regards for workers and those they live with, as according to workers, the workload does not warrant employees working at full capacity. They stated that the full capacity mandate is nonsensical and only puts a large number of employees at risk, should any member of staff be Covid positive. They described it as a recipe for a mass outbreak, if it is not urgently dealt with.

 “The atmosphere in the office this morning is people being visibly miserable and frustrated, most of them are basically twiddling their thumbs” said one source.