Those of us who were ‘cannon fodder’- how do you feel?

[Onandoff]

I went to a gathering the other day with people who were privileged enough to still be working from home in highly paid city jobs. Their experiences were a stark contrast with mine. It was interesting to hear how protected they’d been, many still getting shopping delivered and only just resuming socialising. They hadn’t been on public transport at all. There was a general air of resentment at being asked to go back to offices and commute. They’d all saved money and were very worried about covid exposure despite being vaccinated. Apparently many workers have completely refused to return.

DH and I were the only key workers there and it brought home how exposed we’d been. Literally all of our family and colleagues caught it and some died or were left disabled. My mum died. In the hospital where I work 80% caught it in the first wave alone.

It’s been interesting to see through this that the jobs essential to society are (generally, appreciate some exceptions like medics) the worst paid. If we’d refused to go in or been redeployed we’d have been sacked. While the privileged middle class are still being pandered to despite vaccination.

I feel that those who went out to work should be financially compensated for the risk we took. At the very least we should be given tax breaks and not be expected to cough up for furlough costs.

I’m a teacher and was glad to have a job deemed necessary enough that I could still leave the house and have real human interaction at the height of the pandemic. It must be kind of depressing to have a job that can suddenly stop with no significant consequences to wider society.

I'm definitely not middle class. I did work for the NHS for a decade and then as a carer
If I was still working for the NHS I would have been at home anyway because I'm CEV
So yes, I was vaccinated early and I'm still at home, earning minimum wage because our building has no windows to open, and my boss is worried enough to keep me at home
Sorry 🤷🏽‍♀️ can't do much about it. And my commute is 10 mins so not saving a great deal there
Yes shopping is back being delivered now because it's more unsafe for me now people aren't distancing or wearing masks, I'm trying to protect myself AND the NHS because I don't think they want to try to treat me with covid and the other health conditions I have!

OP I agree that those of us who have been able to work at home had it easy.

I also agree that a lot of jobs which carry heavy responsibility are massively underpaid.

Can you imagine a true lockdown with noone allowed to work the only reason we had a lockdown was because of the internet. Had this happened in 1990 we'd have continued going to work and school and many more people would have died.

"its the fucking moaning about they dont want to have to have to go back to normal working in their offices when they are asked to that makes me angry .
like they are so much more bloody precious than the likes of us retail staff , nhs ,teachers etc , who just had to get out our houses each day ,take that risk and get on with it"

I WANT to go back to the office so this is not me.
However, I understand the argument of those who like home working to some extent. It's not about being precious, it's about the fact that their jobs CAN be done from home. That's all/

On the other hand, all the people I know who want to continue to work from home (mainly parents) all admit it's about their own convenience, saving on childcare or being able to do housework. None of them claim it's about being scared of Covid.

I agree with your points @Howshouldibehave. Mumsnet does seem to have a disproportionate number of extreme introverts who really dislike interacting with other people. I don't think this is the how the majority of people think.

While we have a couple of introverts in our team, I can honestly say that everyone else couldn't wait to meet up again.

I do feel it is incredibly insensitive of people to moan about returning to the workplace given the sacrifices key workers have been making throughout, yes.

@MrsLargeEmbodied

op do you want us all to get compensation? all those who had to continue to go out to work? or just your sector?

I'd quite like compensation too, on behalf of my Dad. He probably has dementia, but the NHS won't see him. He was scheduled to see a consultant in March 2020, appointment cancelled. Nothing until May 2021, he's had one appointment, no diagnosis, no support groups running, no nothing.

I'd also quite like compensation on behalf on my 16 year old daughter, who has just come through 18 months of huge disruption to her education, being told there would be no exams in May 2021 but then having exams sprung on her at the last minute, not being allowed her friends and being worried and upset to the stage of having a toddler style tantrum meltdown.

Covid has affected EVERYONE'S lives. In different ways yes, but nobody has had no ill effects at all.

You sound weirdly irrationally very, very angry at the world OP, and maybe it’s just as well you are going onto something else. You sound perhaps burnt-out but also like you’re now as far from caring as can be, and you ought to not be in the caring nursing profession, or certainly not frontline work with vulnerable people. Thanks for all your work, and all other frontline workers from supermarkets to delivery drivers and others- good luck with whatever you do in future, I hope it brings you the financial reward which seems really important to you.

So if you don't want your taxes to pay for furlough who do you think should? Or do you think there shouldn't have been a furlough scheme? I haven't worked since Feb20. I've been receiving 80% of my basic pay with no shift allowances so my income has been drastically reduced and I've struggled to pay my mortgage. I'm going on unpaid leave from 01Sep as no more furlough. I've survived 2 rounds of redundancies but at least I will have a job to go to eventually.

You’re forgetting the we were told to stay at home by ... the NHS 🙄

Vast majority of us were not happy at being imorisoned in our houses trust me

Homeschooling while working a 60 hour week? You try that

I have recently had covid and it was honestly kind of a relief to get it over with! However, as a teacher about to go back to work with what is almost an entirely unvaccinated population of people, I feel very unsupported, unsafe and if this site is representative of the population as a whole, utterly unappreciated. There have been several deaths amongst school staff locally and I have a young colleague who has been unable to work for 10 months now and is unlikely to for some time. We have absolutely nothing at all to protect us and whilst yes, the majority are now double vaccinated, it didn’t make a difference to me and my household. We still got ill. Really I’ll for around 18 days. I am desperately worried for my CV child who dodged it when we had it (am about to get him an antibody test to be sure) and what being in school with no mitigation measures means for him.

When I read threads on here with people scared to go back in the office with masks and ventilation, I have to sit on my hands. And I agree, those of us who have worked throughout should not be paying for furlough. I do recognise however, that everyone has had their own cross to bear throughout the pandemic and that in the big scheme of things, having a job is a privilege.

@eeek88

I’m a teacher and was glad to have a job deemed necessary enough that I could still leave the house and have real human interaction at the height of the pandemic. It must be kind of depressing to have a job that can suddenly stop with no significant consequences to wider society.

I’m not sure many people had jobs that were completely dispensable. Office workers carried on doing their work in different circumstances. Hospitality and entertainment and personal care and sports workers were furloughed so yes we managed OK without them but they were definitely missed and appreciated now they’re back.

Yeah, people moaning about going back to their office at this stage is irritating. Sadly, though, a compensation scheme for people that have felt annoyed by stuff that eejits write on the internet doesn’t seem like that viable a proposal.

@Branleuse

It was absolutely a middle class lockdown, facilitated entirely by a huge army of working class people keeping things running and bringing them things. Massive difference in experiences. Can you imagine a true lockdown with noone allowed to work. In the beginning noone even had PPE. Couldnt get masks, couldnt get hand gel. Terrifying.

I not middle class but have a job which could be done at home. Think admin type job in a uni. I'm very grateful that I was able to do so and thankful for everything key workers did but stop being pissed off with us. It's not our fault that you're job didn't allow it. Come September I'll be able to wfh 1 or 2 days a week but why should I feel bad for having a better quality of life? Perhaps your anger should be directed at your employer or the government but not me.

@EmilyEmmabob

This was entirely the government's stupid decision once again and now it's causing people to compare and resent. The government should absolutely have protected those workers who couldn't work from home rather than using them as collateral damage. It's appalling that so many key workers have only very recently had their second jab as they were forced to wait until their age/risk allocation whilst others were protected at home. Those who could not work from home should have been prioritised for vaccinations, at the very least.

I do believe that many key workers should be financially compensated for the risks they were forced to take and this should be in the form of tax reduction so they are not responsible for recovering the costs of furlough. Of course they were paid their usual wage but they were also forced into a huge risk.

The way all of it has been dealt with is disgusting and I will never trust the government again. It saddens me to see people arguing and insulting each other on here about who had the worst deal during Covid. Everyone had a shit time, but some were clearly at more of a risk than others which should be acknowledged rather than argued against.

As a 39 yr old teacher I was definitely thrown under the bus by the government.

This. So many had a hard time. However toughest for those facing death, illness and poverty. In a way, being a key worker, although higher personal health risks, helped my sanity being able to interact with colleagues. I’ve always struggled that it was ok to interact (with risk assessment etc) with all at work but I couldn’t see any of my loved ones. But I protected them and did my remit. I only got an earlier vaccine as am CV. My younger colleagues are just getting their second dose now. I agree with what I think OP is saying about not necessarily those WFH who had a tough time (balancing full time working is hard), but those who had an easier time at home (saving, no commute) and wish it to continue. I do admit to resenting those on furlough knowing their jobs were safe (some on furlough sadly faced the anxiety of pending job loss), doing garden bar projects and having amazing wellbeing. I worry how the furlough repayments will be funded and know my profession has been denied the basic cost of living pay rise, despite all done generally and during the pandemic. I’m on my first leave from work for 18 months, such have the pressures been with aiming to please everyone, under ever changing last minute government guidance. However, I’m with many on this in a range of professions.

"OP I agree that those of us who have been able to work at home had it easy."

I don't think it's easy not talking to anyone face-to-face all week.
Not getting a break from the same four walls.

You can choose to consider me lucky for having less chance of catching Covid than someone who goes out to work, but I'm not convinced that the damage wfh can do to your mental wellbeing is outweighed by a reduction in the risk of getting Covid for the under 60s.

@venusandmars I’d also like to know what bonus?

The pandemic comes at the end of years of unfair treatment towards NHS staff and other public sector workers. A way of getting people to do unattractive jobs is to pay more, it works the private sector generally don’t have qualms about paying what is needed to get the right staff

In your interview for Cambridge OP did you come out with a stream of obscenities whenever you didn't like something the interviewer said?

Love the people getting wound up at DfE policy officials writing guidance on ventilation in schools because they’re working at home. Wait til you find out who tells them what to write, and how those people got their jobs.

I worked all the way through in the NHS, got covid twice but with no symptoms thankfully.
The hospital consultants sent us in because they didn't want to see the patients themselves and our work load increased 10 fold as we had to take photos of everything and upload for them to see. Write reports on their patients and they would only do telephone consultations.
Same with the nurses, many of them had to go in and report back so the "important" members of staff didn't have to risk exposure. I don't think people realise this happened. Care assistants were particularly abused in this way.
It didn't happen everywhere but it happened in a lot of hospitals.

Just to add a city female perspective

Know a number of kids that were seriously injured while parents (not just mothers !!) we're wfh 9-11hr a day back to back bloody teams called. Several hospitalised. Some now SS involvement.

Also know a huge numbers of people divorcing

It was horrendous wfh with awful school
Provision, depressed unsocialosed kids, both parents having to work far longer hours wfh

My employer said 'no one would lose their job and support whatever home schooling have to do' so basically all of the parents (staff generally ages 25-late 40s) we're online working until 10-11pm as the interpretation was 'you have to do it all'.

Huge amount of HR conflicts wmd problems internally too that are being hushed up.

Grass is always greener isn't it ??

How many healthy young women would have been killed if the JCVI had prioritised teachers

Female teachers make up about 76% of the workforce and the median age for a teacher is 39. In primary schools the percentage of female teachers is higher, and they tend to be younger.
With infection rates in schoolchildren regularly among the highest, prioritising school and teaching staff for vaccination would have made a lot of sense.

The problem is the NHS is I think the biggest employer in the country and if everyone got a raise or bonus it would cost billions . No one is saying it is not deserved .

So the answer Is we all voter for an increase in taxes or national insurance to pay for the “ financial compensation “ and that would have to apply to everyone like shop workers or refuse collectors as well , or business owners who did continue having to go in and keep businesses running ?

Personally I would not have a problem with that as long as there was also an investigation into how much some NHS a trust managers are paid . And making sure there is no waste within the NHS.

The government don’t pay for this , the tax payers do . Many of who have been working on severely reduced incomes .

Life is not black and white .

I'm a keyworker and worked throughout most of the lockdown but I don't agree with the OP. All the people who stayed home were also helping in the effort to stop the spread and by reducing the levels of contact made it safer for everyone, including those who were working outside the home. Being in lockdown was hard and lonely for many people and that should be remembered.

I've been fortunate enough to be able to work from home through this and I agree with you.
If NHS staff, teachers, bin men and similar were very well paid and the risks of working through a pandemic were known and accepted going in, then I suppose you could make an argument that no compensation was necessary but key workers have kept the country running and looked after the rest of us at considerable risk and often tragic costs to themselves.
We've been able to stay at home and minimise our risk because other people have been doing essential tasks out of it.
I think compensation would be only fair and, honestly the right thing to do to express appreciation. I think a tax cut for a period of time would probably make the most sense.