Cape Town - Calls are mounting for the closure of the Blue Ribbon bakery in Salt River. This after 40 cases of Covid-19 cases were reported.
The Salt River Community Action Network said the plant should be temporarily closed until it was safe for workers to return.
The network's Warda Rahim said the bakery should consider the health of their employees and that of the Salt River community.
“We hereby wish to express our support for the Food and Allied Workers Union (Fawu) in their call for the bakery to close until it is declared safe as it is not only compromising the health of the well-being of their employees but also the broader society,” Rahim added.
Fawu recently demanded the temporary closure of the bakery to allow a standard process of decontamination and testing of its employees.
The union's general secretary, Mayoyo Mngomezulu, said the bakery was compromising the health of employees in favour of profits.
“We believe that proper decontamination can only take place when the plant closes temporarily to ensure effective decontamination and deep cleaning. This is the most sensible thing because it lowers the risk of transmission from infected employees to non-infected employees," he added.
Mngomezulu said the union would litigate against any employer found to have “gambled with the lives of its members”.
However, Premier Group marketing and strategy executive Siobhan O’Sullivan said the plant was shut down every seven days for a deep cleaning and sanitation process.
She said 478 employees had been placed in self-isolation.
“Premier’s procedures to protect employees and ensure business continuity in light of the epidemic are well developed and executed throughout our operations.”