The union representing retail employees is urging any travellers coming from Sydney to wear a mask if they come to regional areas in NSW.
THe IGA supermarket in Tweed Valley Way. Photo Google Maps
The call comes on the back of polling that reveals 23 per cent of people in NSW believe being forced to wear a mask is an infringement on their personal freedom.
SDA NSW Secretary, Bernie Smith said: ‘We’re asking anyone travelling from Sydney to a regional community to wear a mask before entering a shop – to protect not just retail workers, but our wider community.
‘A COVID-19 outbreak has the potential to seriously devastate regional towns. Not to mention that regional communities are still recovering from the bushfire crisis.
‘If you’re a traveller from Sydney, particularly a hotspot area, please wear a mask before entering a shop in regional NSW.
The union said widely-aired footage over the weekend of a woman refusing to wear a mask at Bunnings in Victoria showed the type of ‘extreme abuse and disrespect’ being experienced too often by retail workers across Australia.
‘The bottom line is shoppers coming from the city to regional areas should be wearing masks before stepping into stores,’ Mr Smith said.
‘And remember that the frontline workers that you see when you walk into a shop are just out there trying to do the best job they can.’
Why don’t we all just start wearing masks so it does not look unusual anywhere? Let’s do it before we have to, for our community.