WHICH WORKERS DO WE VALUE MOST?

An appeal to people’s social conscience is needed to prevent the weight of work falling on too few shoulders, writes Eilis O’Hanlon

WHO could have predicted, when the economy was temporarily put into suspended animation while the Government dealt with the Covid-19 outbreak, that nobody would want to go back to work when the crisis began to ease?

That’s an exaggeration obviously. Not everyone is against resetting their alarm clocks for early starts again, but the Taoiseach did admit on radio last week that he was hearing evidence that “there are in fact people making more on the Covid payments than they were working part-time and some employers are actually telling us that it’s hard to get people to go back to work because of that”.

As we move into phase one of easing the lockdown from tomorrow, that reluctance may get more intense, which could be why the Government is taking it slowly for now, giving the green light to a limited number of businesses to reopen, as well as sending up to 100,000 construction workers back on to building sites to start the path to recovery.

It may even be that the Government was a victim of its own success in hammering home its message. Initial projections for the spread of infection and death were so dire that few people expected life to revert to normal in the short or medium term. Even now, a new survey says only 28pc of people in Ireland expect life to be normal again by the end of the year. It shows, according to the generous interpretation of Dr Cameron Belton of the ESRI’s Behavioural Research Unit, that people are “willing to make sacrifices now for a better outcome in the long-run”. But what if the suspension of ordinary life has ceased to be a sacrifice at all, and become a source of comfort and consolation instead?

Sky News carried a report last week about a family of 14 in lockdown in England. The father admitted life right now was actually “easier than normal”. Three hours a day were no longer devoted to ferrying the children to different schools. They weren’t spending as much money.

Many people seem to be having similar mixed feelings, partly because the moribund state of the economy hasn’t really impacted them so far. Research in Ireland is limited, but YouGov has been asking people in the UK to rate their experiences in lockdown and the results are striking. Over half said spending more time at home has had a positive effect. Only 11pc say it’s been a negative experience.

Likewise, only a quarter say their income and savings have been negatively impacted. More than 20pc say they have improved. Add that to the 50pc who say their finances are unchanged by Covid-19, and you have almost three in four workers who have little incentive beyond a feeling of public spiritedness to get back to work soon.

Modern life is not only stressful, but expensive. To be in work at all involves significant outlay on travel, not to mention all the other little daily purchases which are essential to a healthy local economy but nibble away at your purse. For many, being furloughed means they are notably better off financially.

Most of all, working parents at home are no longer having to pay for childcare. Once the Government ends the furlough scheme, the reality of the impact the lockdown has had on the economy will hit home all at once. It has been said, chillingly, many of those currently furloughed are actually unemployed. They just haven’t realised it yet.

The resistance to returning to work hasn’t been as intense in Ireland as in other places, because the deadline for many is still further out. Unions are not actively agitating against a return to work in the way unions in Britain appear to be doing. That may change as their time comes to leave the house again without a vaccine or a cure. The WHO has warned that an effective vaccine may never be found for Covid-19.

That means finding a way to live with the threat from Covid-19, not least because the economic burden is growing at an alarming rate. A week ago, the deficit this year was expected to be €23bn. Now that’s gone up to €30bn, and barely anyone batted an eyelid when the new figure was announced last week.

The myriad other risks to public health also need to be taken into account. Cancers are being missed in the lockdown, heart attacks untreated.

Even those most resistant to easing restrictions accept this cocktail of potential disasters cannot go on, but that is still a hard message for politicians to get across without being accused of recklessness.

Perhaps what’s needed next is a direct appeal to people’s social conscience. One positive effect of this weird time has been to make everyone realise anew that they are part of a society, interdependent on each other, rather than merely individuals looking after their own interests. If that’s to mean anything, it must involve sharing the burden which Covid-19 has disproportionately placed on certain shoulders so far.

There’s a class element to this which shouldn’t be overlooked. Those in middle class or public sector employment have the luxury of debating when they should go back to work. Others in lower paid, less secure jobs know they cannot stay cocooned indefinitely until all risk is eliminated, even if such a thing was possible, because they won’t have jobs waiting for them on the other side of this crisis.

The clusters of infection which have broken out in meat processing plants in Co Offaly and Co Tipperary are stark evidence of that class divide. Those demanding the right to stay at home indefinitely, and who criticise anybody who says it’s time they went back to work, still expect food to be on their plates each dinner time. They are essentially relying on other workers, such as those in meat processing plants — up to 90pc of whom are migrants living in crowded accommodation with no job security — to keep working while insisting on their own right to stay safe at home. Likewise, they expect supermarkets to stay open and gas, electricity and water workers to keep getting up each morning and heading to work. What would happen if they too decided the risks were too great and downed tools?

Last Friday’s news from the Mater Hospital that 300 nurses there alone have tested positive is an even more sobering reminder of the risks being faced by some workers.

No one is suggesting the lockdown should be ended in one fell swoop, but throughout this crisis the mantra has been that we’re all in it together. If there is now to be a gradual return to normal, then surely we must all share the risks equally, not ask certain groups of workers to bear them unilaterally?

To do otherwise would be the very definition of self-congratulatory privilege.

‘The burden of Covid-19 has fallen too much on just a few...’