After a positive Covid case was confirmed at FedEx’s Matraville location on August 16, the Transport Workers Union (TWU) slammed its handling of the situation.
The TWU called the response “dangerously inadequate”, accusing the business of allowing a shift-change to occur one hour after management was alerted to the positive case, with several of these workers later deemed close contacts.
TWU NSW State Secretary Richard Olsen said, “Fedex learned that one of their workers had Covid, and an hour later they let dozens of other workers enter the site – that’s not good enough.
“It is against the law for a business to knowingly and recklessly expose their workers to a health and safety risk – and that’s what the TWU believes has happened here at Fedex.”
“As soon as they learned someone had been at that site while infectious, it should have been shut down and cleaned top to bottom while the contact tracing took place.”
Big Rigs contacted FedEx for a response. “Following a team member testing positive to Covid-19 at our Matraville location on August 16, 2021, we can confirm that we complied with all NSW Health requirements including contact tracing. We also completed a deep clean of the facility and equipment,” the company said in a statement.
FedEx added that it was “disappointed by the inaccurate allegations made by the Transport Workers’ Union”.
“The health and safety of our FedEx team members, customers, and communities in which we operate is our top priority. We have robust safety measures in place, and we comply with all required Covid-19 regulations, including crew member testing upon arrival,” FedEx added.
“We are taking all necessary precautions and following guidance from government authorities related to the reporting and containment of Covid-19.”