“Makers of M&S sandwiches faced pay dock if they self-isolated, says union”, 16 August 2020

Workers at a factory in Northampton … were told they would be paid less than £100 per week if they had to self-isolate, making it difficult for many to comply, their representatives have claimed.

Bosses at the Greencore site, where M&S sandwiches are prepared, acknowledged that many staff were entitled to no more than the statutory sick pay rate of £95.85…

“Statutory sick pay does not support people and, in a crisis …” said Ian Hodson, the national president of the Bakers, Food and Allied Workers Union…

The Greencore case highlights … UK lower-paid workers … [who have] faced a choice between staying away from work while ill or coming in and earning enough to live on.

… [H]e criticised the policy of paying staff so little while they were self-isolating, saying it may have contributed to their decision to flout the guidelines.

It emerged last week that 292 people working at the site had tested positive…

… [A] Greencore spokesman said: “In the event that colleagues have had to self-isolate, they have continued to be paid in line with the terms of their contract…

“In a very small number of cases where there have been direct contraventions of government policy … we have unfortunately been obliged to take disciplinary action.”

“All of Greencore’s sites have wide-ranging social-distancing measures, stringent hygiene procedures and regular temperature checking in place … we are liaising closely with PHE East Midlands, Northamptonshire county council and Northampton borough council…

“We have been in constant contact with unions at every stage of this process…”