United Kingdom
The latest update from the Textile Service Association (TSA) includes news on their efforts to address the lack of PPE in healthcare, support laundries in the hospitality industry, understand the job retention program, and take a successful tour of the webinars field .
TSA is currently in talks with the government about how to find a long-term viable solution to solve the evolving problem of PSA clothing with the use of reusable clothing for every hospital, nursing home, nursing home and primary care center. The government estimates that current demand for disposable clothes is around 400,000 a day, while a reusable dress can be washed between 50 and 70 times.
David Stevens, CEO of TSA, said: “We estimate the annual savings of £ 400m, a reduction of 43m tons of clinical waste, guaranteed 12-month care and so on. Unfortunately, the start of the project is currently very slow due to the unorganized government committees with which we are in contact. We will keep you up to date with updates on this topic. All high-level contacts within the government would help in the lobbying process.
“We formed a health committee that was made up of a selection of operators who would advise the project and provide technical support and met for the first time on April 27th. A special thank you to Richard O’Brien from Elis, who plays a leading role in the working group. "
TSA also asked the Guild of Cleaners and Launderers (GCL) to get involved. Follow the link below for the full story.
http://www.laundryandcleaningnews.com/news/newsgcl-plea-for-launderers-to-process-ppe-garments-7894920
Hospitality grant
Stevens also reported that No. 10, BEIS, and the Chancellery continued the TSA's targeted approach to the open letter to support responses to hospitality laundries. “Unfortunately, the answers are quite general and don't take into account our specific industry concerns. However, we have received some more positive news that more than three laundries in England have now received hospitality status. Therefore, please continue to advocate for lobbying on site. If we are all persistent, we will hopefully be recognized as part of the hospitality industry, "said Stevens.
Government job retention program
The web portal was launched last week and TSA said it had received confirmation from some members that they had already received the holiday allowance refund. "However," Stevens said, "we were not aware of this at the time. However, if you have already applied for March payroll, you may have to wait another three weeks to apply for April payroll again." If you have not yet made a claim, you can consider waiting until you have your April payroll and merging the March and April entitlements to improve cash flow. "
He added: “While the program is not designed to encourage companies to fire staff, we all need to prepare for life after Covid-19. So if you think you have no choice but to reduce staffing levels, this seems to be possible. Use the vacation program to pay notice periods that must obviously be based on full pay. We recommend that you follow your own advice, but maybe something you want to think about.
There still seems to be confusion about vacation pay, he said. “If you asked the employees to take a vacation that they take while on vacation, it has to be paid in full, which makes your payroll difficult! We can discuss more about the webinar calls. "
Webinars
The first webinar for small independent laundries was hosted last week by Guy Turvill (board member of Swiss Laundry and TSA) and David Stevens. Stevens said: “It was very successful with 50 participants. Thank you to everyone who attended and it was great to see as many familiar faces as most of us work in isolation from home. It was emphasized again that we are all there together and can help each other. "
