are furloughed people the new benefit scroungers?

[ghostmous3]

According to some posts that are doing the rounds on shitebook they are

Before lockdown people moaned about the 'feckless workshy' now the vitriol is aimed at the 'furloughed sitting on thier bums on beaches spreading germs, how dare they when weve got to work. We're paying for you're furlough'

I'm feeling bloody sensitive tonight. I didn't ask to be furloughed, I'm more than likely getting made redundant at the end of july and I dont go to beaches!

I'm a little shocked by some of these comments. I'm a high level tax payer and a Tory (sorry!) and I do get pissed off about the level of benefits some receive usually - but this is different. I have had to take a 10 percent pay cut and still work full time but I don't begrudge anyone their furlough money, I am glad it's keeping people in jobs and I don't begrudge paying for it once this is over. It was the right thing to do for everyone and it isn't a choice for those who are furloughed.

Argh, the attitude that some have to furloughed workers is just so petty and disgusting! They're not on holiday; they are unable to work due to a pandemic; and they'd be 'spreading germs' a lot more if they continued in their normal work pattern. And they are taking a pay cut, just not losing their jobs altogether. I am glad that many people have the (partial) security of furlough; I just wish more did. I speak as one of the lucky ones who can work from home, and I realize that's what I am: LUCKY.

Our right wing Tory government didn't put people on furlough out of the goodness of its heart but because it was forcing a lot of businesses to shut down and that is against its very capitalist nature. That might sound anti Tory but my point is the furlough scheme is not there to help individuals, it's there to prop up business and save the economy.

We are not all in this together, the pretence we are is sickening

Okay, what would you do differently? Just sack everyone and have them all claim universal credit? Have thousands of companies fold?

My dh was furloughed, but he signed a contract yesterday to agree to come out of furlough and recommence work from next week. I can’t say we haven’t had a grand time these last few months. But we are so grateful he was furloughed and still had cash coming in. Luckily my jobs carried on paying me full pay even on reduced hours so we’ve been incredibly lucky. Can’t imagine how people on single incomes have coped these last few months.

We can work from home and are, longer hours than usual atm.
It wouldn’t occur to me for a moment to feel any resentment towards furloughed workers. Why on earth would I? They have no job security and in certain sectors little chance of finding another position if theirs ceases to exist. Awful situation to be in.

And it's very worrying that so many people will be redundant, especially if this pandemic continues.If anyone's to blame, it's the governments in the world that didn't do more to prepare for possible pandemics, and to see this one and nip it in the bud much earlier.

Furlough is important for the economy long term though as a) we need people to spend to keep businesses going and people cant spend if they dont have the money to, and b) we cant pay taxes if we have no job.

I agree some people are taking the piss refusing to go back to work because they are scared. Ive seen a few people on my friends list refusing to go back to work when they can and have been asked. But for many of us we want nothing more than to go back to work. Im on a zero hour contract getting 80% wage so naff all basically. I am desperate to return to work but so far only my boss hasbeen allowed back and if im honest i think i wont be back until october and then i will be lucky to get one days work a month.

It seems that the sociological concept of the ‘Protestant work ethic’ has been replaced by the ‘Covid shirk ethic’.

But surely if you refuse to work you can't be furloughed? Furlough is for people whose jobs are on pause - if someone's job is active again they can't be furloughed they would then have to take unpaid leave?

One thing I don't think people have noticed is how fractured people have become and how many wedges coronavirus has rammed into society

I agree with a lot of what you say but you are wrong on this. It is the tory party that has created divisions in society, workers vs shirkers, young and old, disabled people and those unable to work = benefit scroungers, leavers and remainers.
They are and always will be the nasty party. The current divisions are just an extension of the tory way.

This has gone round and round dozens of times .
8 million people have been furloughed.
I actually do see why non furloughed staff are a bit miffed that we are sat in the sun while they are working but we haven't chosen to be furloughed so please stop saying that because it's a load of crap .
Yes some employers are abusing the system but that's the employer not employee .
Also the suggestion of furloughed staff to pay higher tax to pay it back , this isn't a benefit it's a scheme to stop all of us being made redundant then we will all be claiming benefits and then the economy will be even worse . I think most realise this only the really stupid think otherwise.
I'm fine with people being annoyed with the furloughed I couldn't care less .
I have a relative who is self employed but because it's only been less than 12 months is only entitled to uc , is this fair ? Is she right to be annoyed? .
People are all annoyed at the situation and you are allowed but sorry it's not my fault my place of work is closed and your not .
It's not forever and hopefully will be back at work soon .

My eldest DS ( student) had just started a job at MacDonalds and had done 2 shifts when we went into lockdown. He is being paid furlough of £67 a week which I was surprised about considering he had only just started
My son also works for MacDs (for four years - also a student). He is being paid his average salary for the months of Dec/Jan/Feb whilst on furlough. I thought a condition of furlough was that you had to be on the company payroll in February. I would therefore imagine that your son is very much in the minority. Or it is a mistake.

Oh, and my son should be paid.
He doesn't live at home and has rent and bills to pay as an independent adult.

Yabu.

No one begrudges those who's jobs are at risk or on Furlough. She also didn't say all people on furlough were at busy beaches.

I think the post that you're possibly referring to on fb by the nhs nurse was brutal but actually had a point. The happy clappers on a Thursday night are kidding themselves. Nhs just want ppe, a pay rise and for people to stop putting pressure ion the nhs. Clapping after going off to busy beaches is ridiculously hypocritical.

The point I think she was trying to make was, while her and thousands of her nhs colleagues are in the front line having to deal with high risk, 12 hour hot uncomfortable shifts, not getting out to go to beaches on hot days there the rest of the country, many of whom are furloughed flocking off to packed beaches.
Doing this is against government advice on how to keep safe and beat this thing. She was right to point it out as ultimately it her and her colleagues who will have to suffer longer as all these people who keep flouting the guidelines continue to spread the virus.

The old folk who are left in nursing homes without visitors, left to the mercy of this virus are the generation who went to war or made sacrifices during the war. The same cannot be said for this generation.
There's fields and fields of crops dying because farmers cannot get workers from the EU and UK people don't seem to want to do this work. It would be great if some of those on furlough got stuck into the country and helped with things like this rather than doing up their properties and visiting beaches like it's a holiday.

Hey, but it's uk 2020 and it's all about generation me, me, me.

This is the effect of a long term tory government.

I am please people are getting government help. But I would not be please is people at my work who are isolating in full pay dont the get bonus for coming into work during all this. They were going to but there was a uproar in my company and they put a stop to it. After all I'm putting my health at risk and why should they get a bonus for sitting st home

I think the furlough scheme is amazing, if I had lost work because of the virus it's the only thing that would have allowed me to stay in my home- doesn't stop me feeling bitter that friends of mine doing the exact same job as me have been furloughed for this whole time, with absolutely no threat to their jobs while I'm working doubley as hard as usual. And I think that's ok.

@CallMeRachel the situation that the nhs is in is due to the government, not citizens.

Furloughed people are not denying health care workers ppe or a pay rise, and statistically most people are still following government guidelines on social distancing.

I’m sure lots of people at the beach were unemployed, fired, on leave, etc. it is random and emotional to just single out furloughed people, and completely unfair.

Also people don’t want to work on farms because it is awful pay under dangerous circumstances, why is it furloughed peoples responsibility to put themselves at risk like that? Also how do you expect people to uproot their lives and move to the countryside to become farm workers? Do you honestly think that is a plausible thing to expect? People have families, children and responsibilities that they can’t just throw away to go get ‘stuck into’ farm work so that nurses don’t feel as hard done by.

So much toxic, misdirected anger at people who are nothing in the grand scheme of this pandemic. If you want to be angry then be angry at the government who have got us to the second worst country in the world regarding this pandemic, furloughed people don’t owe you anything.

And don’t even get me started on how people in care homes have been let down, but I’m sure if you asked them who they felt had screwed them over more it would be the government who have underfunded and underprotected them, without even counting their deaths in the official Covid death rate.

And I say all the above as someone who is not furloughed.

the situation that the nhs is in is due to the government

And poor, inefficient management.

I can see how people can per or e Rhodes furloughed as having a long extended holiday.
I’ve been furloughed (as our industry has shut down - events and congresses) but have 3 children to crisis school. That’s hard enough so I can imagine if I was still working on top I would be thinking furloughed had it easy.

Lots of us on furlough can’t just go out and get another job, partly because lots of recruitment is frozen but also because we have our kids at home and here is now childcare. DH is WFH but be can called out at a moments notice day or night so I can rely on him for childcare either (his job is classed as a keyworker in telecoms)

A mate of mine runs his own bricklaying business, everyone has been on furlough since the start but a big contract came in. He was ringing around the boys and they all told him that it was better being on furlough because they were getting paid the same for doing nothing and they wouldn’t be doing anything until their furlough ended. He’s sacked them all!

That’s hard enough so I can imagine if I was still working on top I would be thinking furloughed had it easy.
that’s exactly it. i’m doing that, 2 kids (one with SENDs), and working fulltime from home. I know most people on furlough will be on universal credit soon.
But it still really hits a nerve if people complain how bored they are.

I do get pissed off about the level of benefits some receive usually

Im sorry I havent yet starved to death but dont worry the price of food will go up so you might get your wish, I'm disabled and have no choice in how this government treats me, oh and please save your 'well I didnt mean the disabled' because I'm starting to think that those who post that are being disingenuous