“How should the employees know their way around?”, Criticized GPA unionist Anita Palkovich on Wednesday in the “Ö1 Journal at eight” on ORF radio. “They are not the deputies” who are supposed to control people who are critical of the corona measures.
“That’s not your job,” said Palkovich. “The work pressure is enormous, retailers are looking for staff everywhere, which means that the current team has to cope with the program.” Overall, the regulations are “barely transparent”, criticized the trade union secretary responsible for the trade union GPA.
Employers grumble too
Employers in retail are also grumbling. The employees could not query health data in addition to their actual job, criticizes Rainer Will, managing director of the trade association. “That is just unworldly.”
There is also criticism from the domestic shopping center operators (ACSP, Austrian Council of Shopping Places). Today they declared “emphatically” that they see themselves unable to control the new regulation “in large numbers”. “In Austria’s 254 shopping centers, an average of around 2.3 million people pass through each day,” they calculate.
These shopping centers are often run by a very small workforce, some of whom are not even on site every day. “The shopping center managements, like the trade employees, have on the one hand more than enough other tasks and on the other hand they are not trained for such controls,” said the ACSP in a broadcast on Wednesday. The operators also criticize the fact that they have never been invited to discussions about the practical implementation of the corona measures.
No criticism from the Chamber of Commerce
On the other hand, there is no criticism from the Federal Trade Department in the Chamber of Commerce. “The new Corona protective measures in retail are feasible for Austrian retailers. Because the different options mean that the requirements can be implemented differently in the shops depending on the possibility. Use with a sense of proportion is ensured,” said Chairman Rainer Trefelik.
The 1st amendment to the 2nd COVID-19 Measures Ordinance, published yesterday evening and effective immediately, stipulates that employees in “non-vital” trade with direct customer contact must wear an FFP2 mask if they have not been vaccinated or have recovered. Food retailers who are in direct contact with customers must always wear an FFP2 mask.
