Meanwhile, the Government is allowing libraries to stay open. Most have closed but some staff had to strike to get Lambeth to close its libraries. The Government needs to take its own advice. Why are libraries that different from schools, museums, etc? No offence but they're not an essential service right now.
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Staff in Lambeth walked out of branches on Friday afternoon, citing section 44 of the Employment Rights Act, which gives employees the right to withdraw from unsafe workplaces. They said they had been given no hand gel, no gloves, and limited access to hand-washing facilities, according to the trade union Unison...
The Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport said in response to Hunter’s letter that it was right for councils to make their own decisions about library closures. “We know that some councils have decided that they need to close their physical library buildings, and that is fine,” it said. “However, we know that libraries can play a number of roles in the community. Therefore we wanted to ensure councils retained discretion to keep libraries open, albeit operating differently given government social distancing advice, where they felt that services could remain beneficial and be delivered safely.” .
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https://www.theguardian.com/books/20...staff-walk-out