One day after an employee in the ZNS newsroom tested positive for Covid-19, executive management is reportedly bullying employees to return to work on Monday morning so that tomorrow’s national address by Prime Minister Dr. Hubert Minnis will be broadcast live and covered.
Employees who have refused to return to work tomorrow have been ordered to write a letter stating why they will not be at work or apply for vacation days, which union representatives have called “bullying tactics.”
Employees were sent home on Saturday so the broadcast station on Collins Avenue could be deep cleaned and sanitized. Two ZNS employees who may have been exposed to the virus by the covid-positive employee have been identified and advised to quarantine for 14 days.
In a letter, dated August 16,2020 and addressed to ZNS General Manager Kayleaser Deveaux-Isaacs, Deputy Chief Medical Officer Dr. Delon Brennen advised that once headquarters are sanitized by a reputable company and employees practice social distancing and wear face coverings at all times, the corporation can resume its normal business.
However, fearful employees are not comfortable returning to the facility so soon. Employees tell the Gallery the positive employee was just identified on Saturday and they are “frightened” to be back in the building two days later.
Some employees who were working closely in the newsroom with the infected employee say they have not been contacted by the Ministry of Health which is conducting contact tracing.
BCPOU President Dino Rolle got involved on employees’ behalf and wrote a letter to Deveaux-Isaacs stating that ZNS workers are not only concerned about their health but the health of their family members and they should not be forced to return to work on Monday morning.
Rolle referred to Article 18.7 of the collective bargaining agreement that reads, “Employees will not normally be required to work under unsafe or unsanitary conditions.”
“I ask you, Madam GM, to discourage your management team from further traumatizing my members who are already concerned about their health,” said Rolle.