Tottenham jobs hardest hit from COVID-19. People the Tories don’t know exist (again)
The Murdoch Sunday Times carried an article on 27th September reporting that a combination of soaring jobless and furlough meant that 45% of working people in Tottenham were not in employment with no great prospect of returning.
The number of claimants has tripled, the report says, to 12% (12,450) and the numbers in furlough are estimated to be 33% (32,500).
While the furlough numbers are an estimate its reasonable to assume that Tottenham does have amongst the highest jobless total in the UK.
Of course we have been here before. The Lea Valley, of which Tottenham is a part, was once one of the major industrial centres of the UK. Then came Margaret Thatcher’s tour of destruction in the 1980s. She neither knew or cared about the impact this had in areas like London N15 and N17.
The local MP David Lammy is right to have concerns about social unrest although it remains the case that you can’t predict a riot.
What does exist are several local food banks including the Selby Centre in North Tottenham which, very much in tune with the area, welcomes all-comers no questions asked.
The reality is though that just as in the 1980s we need a fightback.
The Labour Government elected in 1997 did make a real difference to the lives of many ordinary people in Tottenham. It was a small one perhaps but when you are in tough times that can still mean a lot. That finished in 2008 when the idea that boom and bust could be ended was shown to be wrong.
After that we have had 10 years of austerity focused on getting people in areas like Tottenham to pay the price for the economic crash.
Trade Unions, political and community activists need to come together now to make sure that Boris Johnson does know that people in Tottenham exist and takes specific action to protect and create jobs and pay decent benefits where that can’t work.
Protest and Survive and in the times of COVID-19 in a socially distanced and safe- way.
Keith Flett is a former Secretary and President of Haringey TUC and remains an active trade unionist and socialist in Tottenham
Leave a Reply