Ms Edel McGinley:

I will close with this statement.

I work in a big meat factory with over 500 employees. I have been employed there for over ten years. We have been working very hard during the lockdown and equally now. Initially we were still working shoulder to shoulder. For us, production did not slow down during this period. For the first four weeks we had no proper PPE and no guidance about the lockdown. I am a very good worker and I value the work I do. If the disease was in the animals they would have to close the place but for workers the factories can do what they want. We had an inspection but I do not know what happened during the inspection. It looks like it is finished. Maybe we came out good. I am not sure as we are not informed. Changes have been made since they know the inspection is coming. We have full PPE, masks and shields, and temperature testing is carried out daily now, but 2 metre distancing is still impossible. There are a lot of people on the floor because production is still the same and they need many people to work. We have staggered breaks but some areas are small so we are often queuing on top of each other. It is almost four months in and I still do not really feel safe because there are so many people still working to make up orders. I think that pressure needs to be kept on meat factories to ensure compliance. Also, no worker in my factory has gotten any extra pay during this time despite working in the middle of a global pandemic without proper protections but in a sector that was deemed essential work. This is not fair. I want to ask the committee to make sure we are protected, that health and safety breaches are taken seriously and acted on, that we are respected and paid better for the work we do. I think all workers should get a bonus for the work we have done.