What's going to happen when essential workers can't afford to get to work?

[noblegiraffe]

I was just reading another thread about cutbacks people are making to deal with the price increases, and some people mentioned WFH or WFH more often to save petrol money on going into the office. Petrol and diesel seem to be going up in price daily with no end in sight.

Public transport isn't cheap either, and prices go up in line with inflation.

Not that public transport is always an option - my school has very poor public transport links.

Obviously everyone is affected by price increases, but with real terms pay cuts promised by the government for several key public sector areas, how are they going to be able to guarantee a workforce that can actually afford to get to work? A couple of teachers leaving my dept for other schools cited cost of commute as a factor.

Thinking of the keyworkers - those who were so essential to the running of the country that they had to go out to work during a pandemic when everyone else had to stay at home. What is the plan to enable them to keep going out to work during this cost of living crisis?

Most of the cost of fuel is tax, so it would actually be possible to do something about it. Government is quite happy with their increased income though. Lots of dodgy covid deals and brexit to pay for

I don’t really understand this. If you can’t afford the fuel to get to work then you definitely cannot afford not to work?

What are the options here? Get a similar job closer to home or get another different job closer to home? What jobs do teachers, nurses etc think they’re going to be able to walk into that pay any where near what they’re currently getting?

There are no monetary or fiscal tools that can be used to deal with anything that exists as physical shortages.

Unlike previous crises like 2008, you cannot print more oil and gas. You’re stuck with consuming less, or finding more supply.

You're not wrong.

Social workers are also quitting as they can't afford to drive lots of miles to get to the families they support.

@FemmeNatal the thing is I and probably many others could leave their essential/key worker job or train and apply for promotion or whatever. Then they are making changes as you suggest and hopefully getting paid more, but then where does that leave those jobs. As I said in my previous comment, we are dangerously understaffed, I work in an essential public sector role. Many are upping and leaving. How hard is it to understand that its not about budgeting, making individual choices or doing better and aiming higher. Its about essential workers, often who have studied many years and are in professional positions being paid to reflect the work they do and the rise in the cost of basic living.
Pay more or lose them.

It's very well being good at budgeting. Most of us already are.
Some of us can walk, some can cycle, but it's not as simple as that. The way things are set up at the moment, makes it very difficult to 'just' get a job nearer home.
I'm sad, but not surprised, at the lack of imagination and empathy from some posters.
And I was under the impression that @noblegiraffe's thread was about what will happen within all these industries if the workers go elsewhere because doing what they are doing is financially untenable. There are other 'how do we make ends meet' threads on the board.
Certainly, the whole of society and the way it is run will have to change if fuel/housing costs continue to rise.

If we hadn't worked it out before, the pandemic showed us how interdependent we all are.

And wasn’t the promotion of Brexit about everyone getting pay rises, as Europeans returned home and stopped under cutting British pay?

What happened, weren’t were all supposed to be better off….😉

Imagine if all the nurses and junior doctors in the big London hospitals decided to work elsewhere?

And all the other essential workers in industries like water, telecoms, gas and electricity supply?

My DSS's lodger is a paramedic in central London. He drives up from Brighton, because public transport doesn't fit with his shifts. Up till now, the London weighting made a big contribution to his travel costs, but he's now finding that it's becoming uneconomical and is thinking of transferring to the local ambulance service. However, as a result of mergers, that service covers such a huge area that he could still end up doing a massive commute.

It's all well a good saying out fuel tax down, but what's to stop the private companies who sell just putting the price up to compensate for the difference. They know people have to and have been paying it. It's likely just handing a bigger profit to them.

The problem is corporate greed and political corruption at the end of the day. All of this could be solved with proper wealth distribution and any sort of integrity in our government. But people are so busy chasing their tails to survive they get away with it.

The pandemic has rather let Brexit off the hook imo.

Everything caused by Brexit will be blamed on Covid instead.

Ah, insults. Well done you.

And as I have said before, if the employer can’t attract and retain enough good staff on the current wages then they’ll need to improve pay, conditions, or both.

@FemmeNatal I know the conversation's getting bit circular now.
But do you think they will start paying more and improving conditions?
And if not, then what?

@Chattycathydoll said:

"Also aldi and lidl! I can’t believe these poor people aren’t already going to the aldi and lidl that don’t exist in our area.

I guess I could do a 2 hour walk to the nearest Lidl. That would save me a ton of money which I would have otherwise wasted by doing work to earn money!"

You can be as passive aggressive as you like, but shopping nearly always at Aldi has enabled me to save a good wedge every month on 18-19k! I'm the sole earner too.

And I drive my 15 year old diesel hatchback there too.

As a result of this, I can build a good amount of savings each year for the last two and can do again this year.

Look forensically at your own account if you're struggling, but don't think it's not possible.

This needs shouting from the rooftops.

Almost 50% of the price of a tank of fuel is fuel duty and VAT.

if the employer can’t attract and retain enough good staff on the current wages then they’ll need to improve pay, conditions, or both.

So you’ll be supporting strikes to achieve this, Femme?

And as I have said before, if the employer can’t attract and retain enough good staff on the current wages then they’ll need to improve pay, conditions, or both.

But where does that money to pay higher wages come from?
It comes from us unless this government holds large corporations and their rich buddies to account.
So we are no further forward. We earn more but spend more as prices rise.

If they don’t do this children will go un-taught, patients will be neglected, operations will be cancelled, and so on, and the electorate will throw the government out on their arse, replacing them with one that promises to fix it.

You must be joking.

If none of these ideas work for you what are you going to do? Just sit there and hope someone else deals with your problems?

Well @FemmeNatal you seem to have answered your own snidey question with this:

And as I have said before, if the employer can’t attract and retain enough good staff on the current wages then they’ll need to improve pay, conditions, or both.

So you do accept that it is down to somebody else to fix the problems....the employers.

Yes, @FemmeNatal I expect you're right.
The fallout will be huge.

The problem is corporate greed and political corruption at the end of the day. All of this could be solved with proper wealth distribution and any sort of integrity in our government.

People won't vote for it though, or not enough. They want their house to go up in value & to pass it on to their dc, they aspire to a BTL or holiday home, they don't want higher IHT or CGT. This is what you need to hurt wealth but people don't vote for something they aspire (not realising that it would actually make them wealthier in the long run).

Although they are not public sector, a lot of workers on low pay in London (cleaners, nurseries, hospitality, retail etc) would never be able to afford to live close to central London, either.

the supermarkets blame increased fuel prices for increased cost of food fair enough but their progfit margins have increased so that means they have increased the price by more than the increase in costs. also the amount of profit on a litre of fuel for the garages have increased from approx 5p a litre to 7p a litre so again the increase in costs is lower than the increase in price as profits have increased, maybe they could just make the same profit as last year

@noblegiraffe please stop starting threads which expose the fash-lite attitude of mners. It genuinely scares me.