Today, on Workers’ Memorial Day, we remember all the people who have lost their lives working in poor conditions, whilst being under paid. Under the current climate, with the coronavirus, todays remembrance is with a much heavier heart, as we have lost many, especially those working in the healthcare industry. These people are battling a deadly virus with little PPE, whilst being underpaid and undervalued.
Friday will be International Workers Day. A celebration for all workers around the world. To celebrate and respect the struggle of the working class. It is a day of togetherness, where people from all over the world bond and show their solidarity for each other. Unfortunately, this year the celebrations will be subdued. However, it is the perfect time for us to reflect on workers’ rights.
One unfortunate trend, throughout history, something bad has to happen for there to be an improvement in workers rights and working conditions. We are witnessing that right before our own eyes. It has taken a deadly virus, a pandemic, for people to realise the awful state the NHS has been left in. Years of austerity has resulted in poor working conditions for doctors, nurses, carers, and all other healthcare staffs. On top of the poor working conditions they have been given, they are also being underpaid. The only way society shows its gratitude to these amazing people is by weekly applauds.
There are people who argue that “the current state of affairs was unseen and unpredictable. Nothing could have been done to prepare for this.” What these people fail to realise that it is not just the immediate response to the virus that me and others are unhappy with. I still do not know how people can support the governments immediate handling of this situation. Many things should have been done to prepare. We had months to prepare when it was announced China had the Coronavirus. When Italy started to suffer very badly, we as a country carried on like normal. Spain was next to be hit, yet we allowed Spanish football fans into the country to watch their team play, even though they could not watch in their own country. Ventilators, PPE and testing kits, all not being brought in to deal with the inevitable.
A lot has been made of the governments handling of the virus. People rarely talk about the state in which the NHS was in before the virus even hit us. The virus has shown the shocking state austerity has left the NHS. We were never prepared for a virus. Not even close. Any attempts to improve the state of the NHS was binned. Money, instead of being used to fund the NHS, was thrown to bail out non-tax paying corporations, whilst privatisation continued to dwindle the efforts of a state provided healthcare system.
On top of all the mismanagement and the holes in the NHS, the government went a step further and ignored a report into the state of the NHS. In 2016, Exercise Cygnus looked at how the NHS would cope against a respiratory flu pandemic. The results were shocking. Lack of ventilators, equipment’s, beds etc were all stated in the report. Everything that was stated in the report, we are seeing today. If only the government had acted back then, the NHS would have been in a much stronger position to fight the virus. Many lives would have been saved.
Now we must ask ourselves, if the government knew the poor state the NHS was in, especially tackling a respiratory flu pandemic, then why did it take so long to act? COVID-19 is a respiratory disease. Much of that report applies here. Knowing, the state of the healthcare system is already not prepared, you would act as quickly as possible. The government’s decision to dither and delay has cost the lives of thousands. It is as simple as that. There is no spinning this. No one can look at the handling of the NHS and think, nothing else could have been done. It is not even a matter of well in hindsight this should have been done. People have been calling on the government to act for years. Even in they did half of what was asked, we would have been in a much safer position.
As we remember and celebrate the millions of workers around the world, lets also take this time to make a change. People right now are fighting a deadly virus, on the frontline, without much protection. They need us. It is our duty to keep being vocal and loudly demand the protection they deserve.
Aleha
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