‘Tougher’ COVID measures? Yes: starting with furlough, income protection & living wage sick pay
The media and social media are full of people demanding ‘tougher’ action on COVID. Broadly I agree although very careful thought needs to be given on the impact on the vaccination programme (such people rarely mention the need to get vaccinated)and an eye kept on figures on those in hospital and deaths- with a keen sense this is not just statistics but people with loved ones and friends.
Yet almost never in the calls for tougher action on COVID are demands for furlough and income protection and decent sick pay heard. The current situation is already leading to people often in casual or zero hours work finding themselves with significant income loss. Equally if they do get sick and have work they may just carry on because sick pay is £96 a week.
One reason one suspects why more COVID measures have not appeared is because the Government wont pay the cost to protect workers from near winter destitution in many cases. Being realistic one suspects that many of the calls for toughness come not just from those who will for various reasons suffer little or no impact but also because this is a world of which they have no conception.
Understanding that restrictions, income protection and good sick pay go together is what radicals in the 1830s called really useful knowledge. It’s something trade unions and the Labour Party need to press much harder on in the days and weeks to come.
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