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LONDON CALLING

Guest post – Colleen Sutcliffe

 

 

Food for thought

 

As I sat here, just before 5am this Saturday morning, having been unable to sleep, I feel the need to say something about how I feel in this crisis.

There are a few posts going around about the people at the frontline of this horrendous situation we are in.  As a nation we’re finally realising just who is keeping this once great nation running. It isn’t the politicians or the multinational companies and corporations. It’s those at the lower end of the commercial food chain.

It’s the people who are risking their lives to go to work, when the rest of us are being pleaded to stay at home.

I’m not talking about the doctors, nurses and ambulance staff. Yes they deserve our praise. They are being recognised for the heroes that they are, each and everyday, not just in this time of national emergency that we find ourselves in. Of course they knew that in their profession, they might one day come into contact with people who had a deadly disease.

I am talking about the underpaid and vastly under valued in our society; Shop workers, carers, refuse collectors, lorry drivers, mechanics, technicians, farmers and undertakers.

Shop workers are working their socks off, to make sure we can buy food to feed our families. This in spite of the abuse they’re receiving, because of those who selfishly cleared the shelves of any and everything they could get their hands on. These people never gave a single thought for others, those who may also need supplies. And now, having over-bought, these same people all are throwing it away; a morally criminal act, at a time when food is still in short supply in many areas.

The carers in our communities, travel from one person to another, giving vital help to look those who need it. Much travelling time is unpaid. They are typically paid for less hours than they work. I met one such carer at a checkout queue. She told me she had finished her work but was now doing a food shopping for three households and then delivering it in her own time, meeting the fuels costs herself. She is allocated time for each ‘client’ but it’s never enough to adequately help them.

Refuse collectors are now collecting the tons of wasted food that those who needlessly panic bought and hoarded are throwing away. Lorry drivers are keeping the distribution channels of essential goods flowing. Mechanics and technicians are maintaining the lorries and vans making those deliveries.

Farmers work from dawn till dusk and are often paid way below what they should be for their produce, so that supermarkets can make vast profits. Undertakers and coroners are dealing with the aftermath of the tragically high death toll we are hearing of daily.

And they all do this, all the while trying to alleviate their own fears that they may be taking this indiscriminate virus home to their families. Yet they carry on.

There are more, who despite assurances from this inept government that they would be taken care of, now find themselves out of work, because profits came before people. So many staff have worked hard, generating revenue so these companies turn huge profits and their bosses earn ridiculously large salaries and bonuses.

All of these people deserve a proper living wage. What they get paid is shameful for what they do. As a society we should be fighting for these people. It’s about time that all governments take a hard look at what they are expecting hard working people to live on.

When this crisis is over, we can only hope that decisions will be made to outlaw zero hour contracts, working conditions that provide no security for these amazing people and their families. The minimum wage must be raised to an amount that lets people live a decent life.

We are in the 21st Century. NO ONE should need to work more than one job to be able to put food on the table and keep a roof over their heads.

Big bosses shouldn’t be raking it in at the expense of the people that bring in the money.

Company bosses who have expected their staff to take risks with their lives, needlessly working when the rest of the country is practising ‘Social Distancing’, need to be made accountable. You WON’T see the owners/directors of these companies doing what they expect of their staff. They will be keeping themselves safe in their expensive homes with plenty of food in their cupboard and wine in their cellars. SHAME ON THEM!

Companies in the hospitality sector that have immediately laid off staff, rather than apply for the 80% grant, should also be ashamed of themselves. Yet again they put profits first, not giving a thought for how people might get by.

And then there’s the British business magnates, billionaires, who dare to tell their staff to take unpaid leave. It disgusts me.

I am truly ashamed to call myself a Brit, when we as a nation are all to blame for the way these people are treated. Think about how often you end your shopping with a genuine thank you, to the person who has served you. Think about how you yourself take these people for granted, day in and day out. Could you describe the checkout operator who served you last time you were in the supermarket. I know I can’t, and I hold my hands up to that fact… WILL YOU?

We are so self absorbed, as a nation. And we were too trusting of those at the top, whose job it is to protect us. We elected them, so there is no one but us to blame! This country apparently had an emergency action plan but our government was so complacent, that it was rarely reviewed.

I have deliberately left the question of testing the population till last. We are being told that the decisions are being made based on science and statistics. Both of these require empirical research and data. These need accurate numbers of those who have been infected, in order to formulate any kind of forecasting or pattern analysis.

There needs to be more testing for ordinary people, not just royalty, politicians and TV stars who can afford to pay privately. Those at the forefront, such as medical staff, who have obviously been exposed, need to be tested. In Italy, 46 doctors have died. Do we really want this to happen here?

With a population of over 66 million, testing just 25,000 a day is nowhere near enough. Other countries are not only testing more people, they are tracing those that they have been in contact with and establishing patterns of spread.

Now the top officials in the British government are testing positive. They obviously haven’t been practicing what they have been preaching..

IT’S TIME THIS GOVERNMENT STARTED BEING PROACTIVE

IT’S TIME THEY STARTED VALUING THOSE WHO ARE KEEPING THIS COUNTRY ALIVE

AND IT’S TIME THEY START EARNING THE HUGE SUMS OF MONEY THAT THEY EARN

 

© Colleen Sutcliffe