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.

@AllTheSingleLadiess

There was no lockdown, there was just poor people bringing things to wealthy people.

^^ Absolutely this
The people who polished their halos for not going anywhere for months on end could only do this because of poor people serving them by working in poorly ventilated warehouse, delivering stuff, maintaining utilities and keeping the services like rubbish collection going.

You make it sound as if those confined to the home WANTED to be there, as if we wanted the shops to be closed. It was the government's decision to do that. People weren't sitting at home enjoying having someone deliver things to them. Most people preferred to have the shops open, but it wasn't possible. And what would you have preferred? No lockdown at all or just no deliveries of anything??

By me mentioning the “Schools are Safe” slogan, I was also showing that parents and schools staff were entering schools in ‘good faith’ and even then plenty of the public were telling schools staff (including on this thread still) not to speak up because of course schools are completely safe but doesn’t mean that they actually ‘were’ safe a lot of the time and it doesn’t take much to actually use common sense sometimes to think a bit more about what we say to some people in context.
Common sense always told me that schools (lots of people together, all going home to different groups of people at night) were not 'safe'.
But staying at home, as opposed to getting on a train or bus and then spending all day in an office or other workplace –common sense tells me that is likely to be safer for oneself and others.

If we start deciding who pays how much tax on the basis of how much they benefitted or the risks they took where does this end?
Should someone who became depressed or had deteriorating mental health from being forced to work at home in isolation pay less tax?
Should a child who massively struggled at home, in years to come pay less tax than their classmate whose parents were keyworkers, so were in school and benefitting from teaching in small groups and made lots of progress? (as described by their own parent)

Sadly different people had different experiences of the last 18 months. They were all varying degrees of shit and the level of shitness shouldn't be used to define what level of tax they pay. That isnt how society works

@ChloeDecker the link you've provided show teachers arent at anymore risk than any other occupation?

It's a pandemic of a highly infections disease, people are going to get sick.

I should clarify that my wife is a teacher and brought COVID home to the whole family and I still firmly believe teachers should have been in classrooms with kids for a lot more of the pandemic.

Wearing masks, maybe using better ventialtion and but actually at work.

[quote CBUK2K2]@ChloeDecker the link you've provided show teachers arent at anymore risk than any other occupation?

It's a pandemic of a highly infections disease, people are going to get sick.

I should clarify that my wife is a teacher and brought COVID home to the whole family and I still firmly believe teachers should have been in classrooms with kids for a lot more of the pandemic.

Wearing masks, maybe using better ventialtion and but actually at work.[/quote]
What job do you do?

All of the staff in my school were in school throughout.

@AICM we didn't "have" to go in to lockdown, in around 2000 the UK and other EU nations go together and created a joint plan for dealing with a pandemic. They were well thought out and very clear that locking down people who were at little or no risk was counter productive.

Yet when the COVID crisis struck, though a combination PR and Wokery they decided to lock every one down to avoid anyone claiming they didn't do enough to save people.

There was no real reason the (mostly deserted) high street couldn't have continued almost as normal in many towns. Maybe you would have had to put limits on numbers in some shops but instead we've paid billions to businesses to shut up shop and send staff home leading to all sorts of knock on problems.

I think the attitude from teachers to school closures would have been rather different if they had been in the same boat as a great many in the UK and were not getting paid when at home but were prohibited from working.

@CBUK2K2
Which teachers weren't working?

It wasn't the majority of the country at home with no pay. Plenty of people got furloughed or got jobs as delivery drivers/T&T.

@Hercisback Well during the first lockdown the 5 schools I have family working in and my sons shut apart from a skeleton staff looking after vulnerable kids, who largely didn’t turn up. As a parent our contact from school amounted to a single phone call in the 7? Weeks.

I work away (and have luckily worked as normal) through the whole pandemic. I’ve got colleagues from all over the country and their experience was very similar.

My wife is leadership in a primary school and when I asked why teachers weren’t driving round giving out work she nearly fell over laughing because “that’s not in their contract”.

The second lockdown was marginally better, we we’re given a bag of activities to last the lockdown.

By the third they had managed to get an online presence and provided 2-3 hours of work a day.

Having a lot of teacher friends, it’s been very clear from their social media posts they’ve had quite a nice lockdown on full pay.

Around 40% of employed people in the U.K. are self employed owning small businesses. Lots of these people have been very badly stung by covid. Lots of them are in low income brackets to start with.

It’s very difficult to plan work or employ people with the chaos of lockdown and the pingdemic. As an employer you’ve also got to cover holiday pay pensions etc for people on furlough. So even though you’re not allowed to trade. You’ve got to stump up 15% of your staffing costs as a minimum out of your own pocket.

The second lockdown was marginally better, we we’re given a bag of activities to last the lockdown.

Schools stayed open in the second lockdown.

Working from home is not all it is cracked up to be.
My DS started a new job March 2020 post lockdown and never got to meet any of his colleagues. He aboslutely loathes working from home. He would be back tomorrow if given the chance. In fact his employer was just at the stage in September 2020 of thinking that people may come in 2 days a week, when the Gov advised people to WFH again.
He is now in another job, and so far, has actually been into the office once. It is very hard to get into a job, when you dont meet your colleagues. For example, if everyone else is invited to a meeting except you, you would most likely know, if in the office, as you would see the empty desks, the meeting room booked, etc. However, you do not know this if WFH, and meeting by Zoom (or equivalent). That is just the most obvious example.
In many cases, those working from home have little space, desk or chair, and may be sharing space with others (children when schools were closed). One friend of DS had no where else to work except in bed, as his house share was just too small for a desk, etc

@CBUK2K2 Well all the teachers I know, myself included, taught live to timetable from Lockdown 1 Day 1March 2000.

You must know some really lazy people, might I suggest new friends?

Mach 2019, that should read!

@noblegiraffe

The second lockdown was marginally better, we we’re given a bag of activities to last the lockdown.

Schools stayed open in the second lockdown.

Exactly, @noblegiraffe and also during the first to keyworkers' children

Also, @CBUKUK2 all the schools in my town were actively open with some Headteachers going around delivering work ( and food ) to some of the children here in the SouthWest.
I am ( was) a supply teacher (last teaching / paid day was 20-03-2020 ) and have many colleagues in all local schools. They were all in / producing work online and mostly trying to do both.
My own grandchildren had much work set for them and had video links and telephone calls from their teachers many times during those weeks.
As you should know, teachers spend their evenings, weekends and holidays doing 'schoolwork', as I am sure your wife does. How they managed to fit all the extra in I don't know.

@motherrunner I can only comment on my experience as a parent and husband/son/brother of a clan of teachers. Speaking to colleagues from pretty much every corner of the UK their experience was similarly underwhelming.

@GinPin2 Schools were open for a small number of vulnerable/key worker children. That's great is some staff have stepped up, it just differs significantly from my experience and what I would have expected to be expected of me having spent a working life in the private sector.

I bet all you relatives and your wife love you criticising them all the time.

@Piggywaspushed - Much the same as someone whose worked as normal with 100's of people loves hearing civil servants complain about what a hardship it is they are expected to go back to doing what they are pretty well paid to do after their semi-sabatical.

They aren't your family.

@Piggywaspushed I mean me? As in when we have had friends and family Skype calls and people have complained about how awful it is going back to their offices, classrooms et. I've done a lot of tongue biting,.

Bloke comes on MN to tell people how lazy his wife is. 👍

Semi sabbatical

If only 🤣 🤣

Hardest year of my working life.

@noblegiraffe - Always good to get a different perspective from the usual echo chamber.

@CBUK2K2 I suggest that your wife LTB along with your "friends"

@CBUK2K2 I've worked in the private sector and I know what a bunch of knuckle dragging time wasters and coasters and lazy people work there. Did you enjoy your holiday on Furlough like the rest of them?

@Fncottonrrrrgh LTB?

@Fncottonrrrrgh Apart from when when I actually had COVID I've worked ever day, It's averaged out at nearly 60hrs per week during the pandemic because we've been back filing jobs for people sick/isolating Lots of people like me are working to literally keep the lights on.