COVID’s latest victim is the increasingly strained industrial relations, where employers and some trade unions seem to be pulling in opposite directions over the question of quarantine and leave.
The absence of strong leadership in the team made up of the social partners will prolong the pain caused by this unprecedented crisis and increase the costs of mitigating that pain.
The UĦM Voice of the Workers has issued directives to parents impacted by the closure of schools and childcare centres, instructing them to work from home until their children can return to their classrooms. The context of this directive is the announcement that schools and childcare centres would physically reopen on January 10, a week late. Until then, the teaching is taking place online.
In retaliation to the union directive, the Malta Employers’ Association instructed its members to treat any absence from work that the employer has not authorised as unpaid leave. The employers’ lobby argues that the union’s instructions could lead to anarchy as “people cannot suddenly decide to tell their employer they are in quarantine, without any certification”.
Measures imposed by the health authorities vary according to evolving information on how the infection is spreading. But clear guidelines need to be drawn up on how to deal with infected persons and those who come in contact with them in the context of work. Employers need to know how to tackle uncertified absences.
Respected international organisations like the World Economic Forum are taking the initiative to advise governments, employers and trade unions on how best to handle operational issues in a health crisis. The long-term advice is understandably more precise than the short-term tactics that need to be adopted by governments and businesses.
In one of its reports, the WEF states that the pandemic has “revealed a collective failure to take pandemic prevention, preparedness and response seriously and prioritise it accordingly”.
This collective weakness will not be corrected if trade unions and business lobbies pull in different directions to protect the interests of their own members. To depoliticise the crises that arise from the pandemic, the government needs to be able to respond quickly to the fresh challenges that COVID poses as it evolves. The quarantine or self-isolation of tens of thousands of workers all at the same time is one such challenge.
Some governments have led by example in showing determined and decisive leadership, such as New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern earlier in the pandemic. In a pernicious context of uncertainty, solid political leadership should be coupled with an engaged citizenship. Citizens must demand accountability from their governments over their preparedness and risk-mitigation measures.
Citizens must equally require their employers and union leaders to behave in a way that promotes the common good rather than narrow sectorial interests.
The disregard of health-promoting behaviour by a small minority of people will only add to the disorder that prevails when dealing with the pandemic. We must all recognise our individual responsibility for protecting the most vulnerable in our community.
In the coming years, all countries will have to start rebuilding their public finances to pay for the cost of dealing with the worst economic effects of the pandemic. While it is natural for trade unions and employers to try and strike the best deal for the sectors they represent, a robust system of dealing with crises will be necessary to ensure that social harmony prevails.
Public health, the well-being of individuals and sustainable economic activity are interdependent.
Responsible leadership at all levels of society is a prerequisite to optimising the common good.