A staff member at Leith Jobcentre has tested positive for Covid, raising yet more questions about the DWP drive to force claimants and workers back into the jobcentres, say Edinburgh Coalition Against Poverty (ECAP) campaigners.
On 29 June the Jobcentre worker learnt that they were a close contact of someone who was Covid positive. They were rightly sent home to isolate.
However, the DWP went ahead with a Jobs Fair in the Jobcentre the next day, 30 June, on the first floor where this staff member had worked. And when it was learnt on 30 June that the staff member had indeed tested positive, the DWP still kept the Jobcentre open to the public for the rest of the week.
ECAP have raised the issue with MP Deidre Brock, MSP Ben Macpherson and local councillors.
The Jobcentre workers union the PCS have voted for possible industrial action in a Britain-wide consultative ballot on their concerns over covid safety in Jobcentres, following Covid outbreatks closing jobcentres in Glasgow and Wigan.
Read article with photo and links at http://edinburghagainstpoverty.org.uk/?p=3113