SGEU is calling on the provincial government to cover the pay for  front-line workers that need to go into self-isolation.

The union says at this time, workers are using their sick leave when their employers instruct them to go on self-isolation. In most cases, that would eat up two-thirds’ of the employee’s sick leave for the year.

SGEU president Bob Bymoen said self isolation days should not be considered sick days.

“These are days where the employer, for valid reasons during this time appears that they may have been in contact with somebody who has contracted the virus and they (employers) are asking these people to stay home,” Bymoen said. “These people are not sick or anything like that, they have been going to work, they are not showing symptoms, but out of security and for health reasons and for good reasons the employer says you have to stay home.”

Bymoen said it’s not fair to front line workers to run them out of sick leave during a pandemic.

“We see it more as some type of administrative leave than sick leave, and we think that these employees are already putting themselves at risk on the front lines and doing all this type of stuff,” Bymoen said. “If they end up sick they are going to need their sick leave, and here the employer is making them use their sick leave for times they are not even sick.”

Bymoen says he also believes essential workers should be getting a wage top up, but it should be fair for workers across the board.

“Many of the workers feel that they should get a top-up. There is debates about that,” Bymoen said. “But everybody feels that you can’t single out one group of front line workers that have been working here in these risks and much-changed environments and say you’re more important than this front line worker that is working today as well.”

While Bymoen didn’t have a dollar figure for this program, he says it would not be a lot of money for the provincial government to fund.