Labour has today called on employers to support the
national effort to get Britain vaccinated by giving staff paid
time off to attend their vaccination appointments and escort
vulnerable relatives to appointments, support their staff in
signing up as NHS volunteers to help in the vaccine roll-out and
use their platforms to promote the importance of the vaccine and
combat dangerous anti-vax misinformation.
In a letter to the ‘Big 5’ business groups – the CBI, BCC, FSB,
IOD and MakeUK – Labour’s Deputy Leader has paid tribute to Britain’s businesses for stepping
up during this crisis and told business leaders that “we should
all be proud of the role British businesses have played in the
national effort” to defeat coronavirus, from providing free
school meals when the government failed to feed hungry children
to adapting their operations to produce hand sanitiser and
PPE.
Pointing to official OBR figures showing that the Covid crisis is
costing our economy over £5 billion and 23,000 job losses per
week, Rayner warns that delays to the roll out of the vaccine
will see more damage to our economy, more working people losing
their jobs and more businesses going to the wall.
In her letter to business leaders today, Rayner emphasised that
“every effort can make a difference” and “we all have a role to
play” in the national effort to roll out the vaccine as soon as
possible so our economy and businesses can recover, committing
the Labour Party to working with businesses to “rebuild our
country and our communities in the months and years ahead”.
Rayner’s call to ensure workers have time off work in order to
attend vaccination appointments and escort vulnerable family
members to their appointments comes ahead of a visit to a
vaccination centre in her constituency in Oldham today as part of
Labour’s #LetsVaccinateBritain campaign to sign up tens of
thousands of volunteers to support the NHS in rolling out the
vaccine.
ENDS
Notes to Editors:
- https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/politics/bosses-urged-give-staff-paid-23294196
has written to the ‘Big 5’ business groups:
Tony Danker, Director General of the CBI
Adam Marshall, Director General of the British Chambers of
Commerce
Mike Cherry, Chair of the Federation of Small Businesses
Stephen Phipson, Chief Executive of Make UK
Jonathan Geldart, Director General of the Institute of
Directors
Full text of letter:
Dear Tony/Adam/Mike/Stephen/Jonathan
2020 was an incredibly tough year for all of us. The coronavirus
pandemic has hit our country harder than almost any other, we
have had the worst recession of any major economy and the impact
on British businesses has been devastating. Too many good
businesses have struggled, too many people have lost their jobs
and the longer this crisis lasts the deeper the economic damage
will be.
We should all be proud of the role British businesses have played
in the national effort – adapting their workplaces to continue to
operate in the most challenging circumstances, and even going
above and beyond by changing production to make hand sanitiser,
PPE, and providing free school meals when the government failed
to feed our children.”
The government has – once again – lost control of the virus.
Regrettably, restrictions are again needed to save lives and
protect our NHS. But for every week that this remains the case,
more damage is done to our country, our economy and British
businesses, more working people lose their jobs and more
businesses face bankruptcy.
This crisis is costing the UK economy more than £5 billion
each week, and 23,000 people are estimated to be losing their
jobs per week, which makes it absolutely critical that the
vaccine is rolled out swiftly and safely. Delays will cost our
economy billions of pounds, and see tens of thousands more
workers lose their jobs.
That is why the Labour Party and trade union movement has
launched the #LetsVaccinateBritain campaign, to do everything we
can to support the national effort to get people vaccinated,
protect our NHS and secure the economy. We encourage you to ask
your members to support this campaign.
I know that you share this commitment to ensuring that the
vaccine is rolled out as quickly as possible, and you will know
first-hand how damaging delays will be to our economy and to
businesses.
We all have a role to play, and Britain’s businesses can support
this national effort by ensuring that all workers are given paid
time off to attend their vaccination appointments and escort
vulnerable relatives to appointments, workers are supported in
signing up as NHS volunteers to support the vaccine roll-out and
businesses use their platforms to promote the importance of the
vaccine and combat dangerous anti-vax misinformation.
The sooner the vaccine is rolled out, the sooner our economy and
our businesses can begin to recover and every effort can make a
difference.
The Labour Party looks forward to working with British businesses
to vaccinate Britain and rebuild our country and our communities
in the months and years ahead.
Yours sincerely
