Concern for workers and young graduates

A ‘vir tual’ Trade Unions Congress took place last week, against a background of fears concerning a second wave of the COVID-19 pandemic, and of the Government’s ending of the Job Retention Scheme, or furlough, on October 31.

This decision will directly impact upon the estimated 20,000 plus workers who are currently furloughed in Slough.

We applaud the Chancellor for introducing the furlough; it was brave, bold, and the right thing to do for our country.

However, it is not past the point of return to prevent a wave of redundancies if the scheme winds up.

The TUC implores the Chancellor to extend the furlough scheme, the pandemic is not going to end in October, so neither should the furlough.

When this crisis began the Chancellor said he would ‘do whatever it takes’ – and he must keep to that promise.

The TUC worked closely with the Government earlier this year: indeed, the furlough was the idea of the TUC, and it is serious about stopping the catastrophe of mass unemployment.

The risk is greatest for the 800,000 young people who have left school or university this year – the Resolution Foundation has estimated in its’ repor t, ‘Class of 2020’, that youth unemployment could rise by 640,000, taking the total to over a million.

The TUC’s ‘Jobs Protection and Upskilling Deal’ argues that we must use this moment as an opportunity, for a concerted national effort with which to both protect jobs and for upskilling the workforce.

We can gradually upskill workers, rebuild productivity and reopen the economy, and in doing so we should be following the example of our European competitors, such as Germany, France and Italy in extending the furlough.

Other measures outlined include proposals that involve short-time working and sector-specific schemes which are targeted and offer more flexible support than the government’s current ‘one-sizefits-all’ scheme.

Had the Government introduced lockdown a week earlier, epidemiologists estimate, tens of thousands of lives could have been saved; now as mass unemployment draws nearer, the Government must act.

Working people carried the burden of the pandemic – they must not bear the brunt of any recession.

KEVIN BARRY Slough and District Trades Council