Teachers and School Workers - Victims of Politics?
Good morning,
Amidst the news of the tidal wave of sackings going on across health and social care at the moment - something many Keyworkers already know the heartbreak of - we were passed on this shocking article this morning.
To sum up - the Tories put politics before the health and safety of children and those who educate them.
Whatever you feel about masks (FFP are the ones which help prevent the spread of infection most), this was the only mitigation to which the government agreed. There’s been no installation of UV air purification or retrofitting of ventilation with HEPA, meaning our children and educators are at risk of continued infections, which we know increases the risk of complications and disability.
We are disgusted to hear of this Covid Inquiry revelation and stand in solidarity with our fellow Keyworkers in education who should never have had to deal with this. How many more decisions like this were made at the expense of Keyworkers ?
If you’ve not yet done so, I believe there are projects across the country seeking to capture the views and experiences of everyone who lived through the pandemic. We would urge everyone to complete these where they live.
We see and read the stories of fellow Keyworkers and how appallingly they’re being treated - whether it’s outright ableism, lack of adequate support from unions, employers not following the law on reasonable adjustments. We are furious at union lawyers dropping personal injury claims at the last minute, leaving unwell Keyworkers to try and find legal support (for which they’ll have to find money or no win/fee) as their window for claim ticks down to the three year mark. While we understand the reasons for unions sticking to a 50% win rule in terms of representation, we think there’s been opportunity missed in terms of class action, particularly where you’ve got several employees affect by an employer’s actions - or lack thereof. It’s deeply upsetting to hear people struggling to stay employed, with little appropriate support or those who, while feeling tremendously sad and grieving the loss of self that comes with losing a career in a vocational field, find there is a sense of relief that they don’t have to struggle on battling the ableist attitudes and policies, while understanding that this freedom is bittersweet, as it also comes with its own challenges.
We have been working very hard with the RCN on their offering for members, reps and managers in how to support those with Long Covid, but we know, based on hundreds of accounts coming from others in healthcare, that our experiences of the colleges and unions is not the norm. We would like to see all the unions across keyworker sectors coming together with the APPG on Coronavirus to push harder for compensation and access to pensions, a change to IIDB to allow those whose infections were likely caused by their work amongst others. We still feel Equality and Employment law needs to be strengthened in terms of support for disabled staff and those with chronic conditions, like Long Covid. In particular the law needs changed in terms of time to claim for incidents involving protected characteristics - we feel it needs to be at least a year rather than three months.
As things change for many of us, as we hear and are outraged by what’s coming out of the Inquiries - but unsurprised by - and just how bad things actually are, far worse than we could have suspected, it’s galvanising us. We are actively talking about next steps and Rachel has created a survey, in case you missed it as a very short update to our March one. I’ll get her to drop it in a post!
Stay safe and well, share this petition and thanks again for all your support