Third Camp Marxism

The “heroes” narrative about NHS and other essential workers is dangerous. As a nurse on the Panorama programme on PPE said, it has an implication that unnecessary deaths are workers willingly sacrificing themselves. It absolves the government of responsibility.

It also carries an implication that those workers rebelling against these conditions lack the courage of their colleagues who accept risks due to lack of PPE.

30 million workers in the USA have applied for unemployment benefit since March. 35 million workers are on government-funded furlough schemes in Europe (10 million in Germany, 11.3 million in France). 1.8 million have applied for Universal Credit in Britain, and 700,000 have got advance payments. Signals are also increasing of a new wave of job cuts as the lockdowns ease and creditors start chasing debts.

At work, postal workers continue to make demands around the provision of PPE, and the implementation of adequate distancing measures at work.

The walkouts that have taken place around the country have built up pressure around these demands, and they have largely been achieved in the offices where I work, with PPE being provided and staggered shift times in place to ensure numbers in the workplace don’t exceed levels at which it’s possible to distance safely. We also want to stop delivering junk mail, and prioritise essential personal mail.

Our union (PCS) National Executive Committee will meet this week to discuss a formal position on criteria for any possible return to work. The majority of civil servants can work from home, so there’s no reason why any return to the workplace shouldn’t be voluntary.

This week access to the control room and the manager’s offices is more restricted. Lack of contact with Ops and the assistants means no information about bin wagon drivers is coming through to us, although the email from the union suggests drivers are almost at breaking point:

“We have requested an additional payment (Covid Clear up) for the increased weights that are coming through and also the risk of infection. This fell on deaf ears locally so the union will be raising it nationally this week.

As governments and tech companies tout digital contact tracing as a way out of coronavirus lockdown, many experts and privacy campaigners are expressing scepticism. They worry these systems may do little to help contain outbreaks but could usher in unprecedented mass surveillance. So, what are the issues?

An activist from the Labour Homelessness Campaign told Solidarity:

“Virtually every local authority is reporting that for every rough sleeper they house, more new rough sleepers come onto the streets after losing their income, or being unable to stay in overcrowded accommodation during the pandemic.

“Massive holes in the government’s Covid response are leading to these desperately sad stories of working-class people being left to fend for themselves on the streets during the pandemic.

The Safe and Equal campaign continues to grow. Through using stickers with QR codes outside nursing homes, social media, and phone-banking our new online sign-ups, every week we are making contact with more workers who want to support our political campaign and organise a fight at work.

A letter to MPs raising our demands for full self-isolation pay and equality for all is in the works, and John McDonnell MP has agreed to address a Safe and Equal rally at 7pm on 12 May, which will be held via Zoom.

Some trade-unionists have suggested swab-testing of all workers in each workplace before a return to work.

The Tory government’s focus on the crude total of test numbers as the big thing has boosted this idea.

Full isolation pay for those with symptoms, or identified as contacts of virus-sufferers, and social distancing plus PPE where necessary in the workplace, will help much more. So will regular (instant-result) temperature checks, widely used and effective (so far as we can tell) in South Korea, Taiwan, and Hong Kong.

The National Education Union has produced five tests for the reopening of schools.

They are: much lower numbers of cases; a national plan for social distancing; comprehensive access to regular testing for staff and pupils; a commitment to testing a whole school when a case occurs; and the option for vulnerable staff, or those who live with vulnerable people, to continue working from home. These are fine as far as they go.