Blue-Collar Workers & Covid Secure Workplaces

Return to work 'fumbled presentation' by Boris
by Brian Bamford

TODAY the editorial in the Financial Times took a dim view of last Sunday's Prime Minister Boris Johnson's TV address and his plans for a phased economic reopening and scheme for rebuilding public confidence.  The FT editor writes:  'The fumbled presentation, and impression that not all elements had been fully thought through, undermined the impact. they also risk widening the social and economic divide between those who can work from home and those compelled to return to their workplace.'

The restart in the government's 'Plan to Rebuild' does have some credible grounds for easing-up on the lock-down so long as the physical distancing rules are intact.  

But the Sunday statement lacked clarity and provoked confusion as today's FT editorial showed:  'Making the statement without explaining sufficient, safe transport would be available - or whether workplaces could be guaranteed "Covid-secure" - suggested a more cavalier attitude towards the welfare of blue-collar workers than stay-at-home "knowledge" workers.'

For example men in some blue-collar jobs are already more than twice as likely as the general workforce to have died from Covid-19 according to official figures. The Office of National Statistics found that the highest mortality rate amoung men working as security guards, with bus and taxi drivers, chefs and retail staff also among those more affected. 

Francis O'Grady, the Trade Union Congress's general secretary, warned of 'chaos' if people were forced back into work tomorrow as promised especially if their workplaces had not been prepared for proper social distancing.  At the same time, it seems, there has been haggling between business leaders and employers about a return to work. 

The FT which had previously excused the government's earlier errors before it later introduced the lock-down is now arguing:  'Mr Johnson's breezy assertion that workers should explore cycling or walking, and avoid public transport, betrays a metropolitan middle-class failure to appreciate how much more difficult that may may be for those in rural or small-town areas.'

Now the FT is saying:  'After earlier mis-steps, the government had a chance to prove it was getting on top of coronavirus policymaking, but has flunked it.' 

Today I rung my eldest lad who works on the shopfloor at a fibre glass company in Burnley, he hasn't yet gone back to work and is expecting to be furloughed for the next few weeks.  It's not going to be easy to return to anything like normal.

******************************