When I last wrote a diary entry, it was the autumn of 2020. This was shortly before management planned to start bringing staff back to the office, despite my concerns about our workplace, not being Covid secure – but events intervened.
In late 2020, the Alpha variant appeared, and case rates began to rocket once again. As we entered 2021 and the hospitalisations and deaths soared, we continued working remotely. This was not easy for a variety of reasons, and soon mental health and stress-related problems started to appear. Sickness rates rose and in several conversations with my members it became obvious that the long lockdown and the increasing anxiety was taking a toll on their mental health. As a union representative, I tried to provide as much encouragement and support as possible.
As the summer of 2021 wore on it was clear that more and more staff were returning to the offices of the other organisations in our building. Later, I realised that the only reason that my workplace, unlike others, still had people predominantly working remotely was because we were unionised and that I had held back any attempts to go back to anything but a Covid-secure workplace.
The football fever of the Euro 2020 in July led to a huge rise in cases as younger people gathered in large groups in bars and many who attended football matches were also infected. Johnson’s libertarian government finally removed all restrictions on the infamous “Freedom Day” in late July. Mask wearing had already reduced considerably on public transport and in indoor settings but now it fell away almost completely. By this point, we negotiated with the Director of my organisation to introduce an official Homeworking Policy. This was agreed and the Equalities Rep proofed the document, ensuring that staff would not be penalised in any way by for choosing to work at home or in the office and guaranteeing that considerations like age, disability and caring responsibilities would all be taken into account. This was a major breakthrough.
Next, we tackled the Health and Safety and the Risk Assessments. The Director agreed that the Risk Assessments for the building were totally inadequate, and we pointed out that our offices would need air filtration units, as in the cold weather it would be impossible to work with the small windows open.
In the interim, it appeared that many charities were facing financial shortfalls, even though in the UK, charities like mine are essential for disabled people. We help them access social security benefits, exercise and engage in sport, and employ their own support staff for social care. Due to their financial situation, they had decided to get rid of their offices entirely. Instead, they planned on having staff either working from home or occasionally meeting in a hub for staff meetings. Virtually none of them were asking staff to return to the office. However, in non-unionised workplaces and particularly in the private sector there was a considerable return to the office.
Just two weeks later, Omicron was raging though London and the city had once again become the epicentre for a variant in Europe. The government reluctantly reintroduced protections (Plan B) but only managed to get it voted through Parliament with the support of opposition MPs, as many of its own libertarian MPs were such right wing extremists that they would not countenance any controls.
I have been involved throughout in the campaign by Zero Covid UK. Several trade unions have supported it and recently the Socialist Health Association, the main left health campaign group, agreed to affiliate.
As Omicron has continued to paralyse the National Health Service (NHS) and lead to huge numbers of infections, the death rate has – once again – risen to 400 per day. There is much talk of it being milder and causing less deaths than in the Delta wave but the fact remains that for the Conservative government profit trumps public health every time.
Since February this year all restrictions have been dropped in the UK, with two resulting waves: the BA2 wave which crashed across the country in March and April and led to a huge number of cases and many resulting deaths, though not as high as the Delta wave, and then in June and July the far more infectious BA5 wave arrived, infecting many who until then had not been infected.
I continued to ensure that most workers in my workplace could work remotely and had a guarantee from the employer that air filters would be placed in the offices and staff provided free testing once a week. In June I left my job after nearly fourteen years. I told my colleagues that my main legacy as a union representative would be a safe workplace. The pandemic shows no sign of easing and 200,000 here are dead already. The Johnson government’s lack of responsibility is the main cause for the dreadful death toll. The unions remain one of the key factors ensuring health and safety in the workplace now that the government has dropped all safety measures. As a union rep I was pleased to have been able to play a role in that.
For further reading, we recommend:
Diary of a Pandemic Shop Steward 2020, Joseph Healy
image source and license: Pexels