NEWS.CATEGORY: Industrial
Belly Mujinga petition smashes two million signature mark
TSSA General Secretary, Manuel Cortes, has described as "incredible" news that the petition calling for 'Justice for Belly Mujinga' has now garnered more than two million signatures.
Employed by Govia Thameslink Railways (GTR) Belly was a Victoria Station Ticket Office clerk and member of our TSSA Family who died of Coronavirus in April after being redeployed to the concourse despite having an existing respiratory condition.
Manuel Cortes said:
"We have seen an incredible response from the British public over Belly’s death.
"Two million signatures just goes to show how deeply Belly’s tragic death touched the nation - I want to thank every single one of you who answered the call for justice and signed the petition.
"Serious questions remain about the circumstances leading to Belly’s death, namely why her employer decided that she should working directly with passenger flow at Victoria Station, at all, never mind without adequate Personal Protective Equipment in the midst of a pandemic.
"Belly’s story has helped highlight the risk of Covid-19 to BAME and other transport workers. Our union is continuing to push hard for risk assessments to take into account the ethnic background of workers, so that proper protections can be put in place.
"We are also calling on Boris Johnson to change the regulations so that the National Health Service (NHS) Coronavirus compensation scheme is extended to transport workers."
