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Thanks to Dr Jonathan Flaxman for permission to post this presentation on Covid19
There were several strands to last night's Brent TUC meeting on Covid 19 zoom meeting: an awareness that Brent was one of the worst affected areas in the country, the disproportionate number of black and ethnic minority people who have lost their lives to Covid, a lack of faith in the government's ability to manage the crisis and a fear of a second wave of infections and deaths because of a premature relaxation of lockdown. On the positive side early ordering of personal protective equipment for care home workers by Brent Council and the return of infected care home residents to a special facility, rather than directly to the care home, had limited care home deaths in Brent. Many were keen to learn lessons from the crisis and rather than a return to old ways to support the 'Build Back Better' movement to put in place a better society which respects and values the public sector and retains some of the benefits of lockdown such as cleaner air and community cohesion.
Dr Jonathan Flaxman a retired GP and member of the National Covid Assessment Unit set the scene with the above Power Point presentation.
He was followed by Simon Hester, formerly of the Health and Safety Executive and now Haringey Trades Council, who spoke of workers' rights under the Employment Rights Act to remove themselves from danger. The government had moved the goal posts on construction workers, first insisting on a 2 metre social spacing, then relaxed that to a 15 minute limit on working in proximity to a co-worker, and followed that to approval of co-working as long as masks are worn. The ability of the HSE to inspect construction site working for compliance has been severely limited by government cuts - there are only 20 inspectors to cover the whole of London. The only alternative was for workers to organise collectively in order to protect themselves. Haringey TUC had set up a Covid Action Network.
Cllr Krupesh Hirani, Brent Cabinet member for Public Health, Culture and Leisure, said that at the beginning of the crisis Brent had the highest death rate. Croydon and Newham in London are high at present and rates in the North of England are mounting. On 8th May the figures for Brent stood at 446 deaths of which 362 were in hospital and 37 in care homes. The R rate (spreading of infection) is now lower in London and there are prospects of regional variation in relaxation of the lockdown. The disproportionate rates for BAME residents are under investigation and will be followed up by public health outreach work in the community. Likely factors are deprivation, diet and physical activity. The major issue arising out of the crisis for the council would be the impact on its finances with the government backtracking on early compensation commitments.
Cat Cray of the RMT, a train driver, said that a survey had found that Londoner's had the pooresr knowledge of government guidance on Covis19 in the country. There had been 4 deaths of London Underground workers - all black males. In response RMT had been able to have mitigation put in place. There have been 8 incidents of spitting at staff by the public. London has the lowest proportion of car owners in the country so are reliant on public transpoirt. Underground workers that going above 15% capacity on the tube will be unsafe for passengers. The withdrawal of concessionary fares was outright discrimination.
Lesley Stanfield of the GMB spoke about the national situation regarding care homes and how the government had acted too late. She reminded people that most care homes are 'for profit' and this was the case in Brent. As a consequence workers were low paid. Many care hoem staff had not bee given PPE or that which was given was rationed. She said that there had been constructive work with other unions over school workers and that it was important that headteachers consulted with their staff. She was fearful about about mental health issues airsing from the crisis.
Sonia Morgan, a bus driver said that after deaths of bus drivers, protective measures had been put in place, isolating the driver from passengers. There is now no swiping and the public are enjoying free travel but swiping is being introduced on the 'Boris' buses which have centre doors with swipe facilites. Currently TfL are running a Sunday service on most routes but the 98 is nownormal service and 260 will be normal from Saturday.
Jenny Cooper from Brent NEU spoke about the union's 5 tests to be met before safe re-opening of schools. These had not been met as cases were still not low enough and there was no detail on how 'test, track, isolate' would be implemented in schools and no guidance from Brent Council. Testing of staff had not been fully estabished and some teachers had been waiting for more than two weeks for results, There was no proper plan to protect BAME school staff. The union was adopting a 'safety first' approach and some schools had put back wider re-openung until June 8th or June 15th.
Barry Gardiner, MP for Brent North said he supported the education unions' 5 tests and said that there was no compulsion for schools to go back until it ws safe to do so. He congratulated Brent Council on ordering PPE for care homes in February resulting in the second lowest care home death rate in London. On the furlough scheme he said that no one should be receiving less than the London Living Wage. He had written to the Home Secerary about the plight of families not entitled to support from public funds and had heard that applications will now be considred. The government had not been following the science from the beginning - in fact they had asked what they should do after early failures and were still not following the advice,
Dawn Butler, MP for Brent Central, said she was worried about a second peak in Brent - people were at risk as soon as they left the front door. Harlesden with its high rate of infection was to be a pilot for testing, including testing for anti-bodies, with a centre in Robson Avenue. There was a huge time delay at present between having a test and getting a result, a rapid reponse was vital for effective implementation of track and trace, She was concerned about rents, including for small businesses, domestic violence and post-Covid mental health provision for adults and children.
In discussion about the situation after Covid (the 'new normal') Pam Laurance of Brent Friends of the Earth said that people did not want to go back to pre-Covid times. She wanted to see investment in a Green New Deal. Dawn Butler supported this and said that bailing out companies such as aviation should be conditional. Dawn was supporting action to ensure that people in Brent would have access to face coverings.
Barry Gardiner said that the Covid crisis would pale into insignificance compared with what we would face in the climate change crisis. It was important to move towards 'Building Back Better' post Covid. He said that it was not just a question of aviation companies being required not to pay dividiends or go go off-shire but of taking an equity stake in them as had been done with banks in the credit crisis (there was disagreement over this in the 'chat' column with some feeling that this would mean the state colluding with the aviation industry in order to maximise its return on the investment).
Jenny Cooper said that over the past few weeks the NEU had held positive talks with Brent Council on how schools can be built into the environmental agenda.
Cllr Hirani said that closer work between unions and the council on a practical levels as a result of the crisis was something to build on. There was a need for the council to be fully compensated by the government for its expenditure on protecting residents - the government appeared to be going back on its initial pledge to local government. The bail out of TfL had involved too many concessions and revealed the government's political attitude towards the London Mayor. The government was being exposed in front of our eyes and it was important to keep up the pressure on them.
The meeting discussed a possible future meeting, to be confirmed by the Brent Trades Council Executive, to set up a Brent Against Covid Campaign. On chat I suggested it would be more positive to call it Brent Build Back Better Campaign.
Thanks to Dr Jonathan Flaxman for permission to post this presentation on Covid19
There were several strands to last night's Brent TUC meeting on Covid 19 zoom meeting: an awareness that Brent was one of the worst affected areas in the country, the disproportionate number of black and ethnic minority people who have lost their lives to Covid, a lack of faith in the government's ability to manage the crisis and a fear of a second wave of infections and deaths because of a premature relaxation of lockdown. On the positive side early ordering of personal protective equipment for care home workers by Brent Council and the return of infected care home residents to a special facility, rather than directly to the care home, had limited care home deaths in Brent. Many were keen to learn lessons from the crisis and rather than a return to old ways to support the 'Build Back Better' movement to put in place a better society which respects and values the public sector and retains some of the benefits of lockdown such as cleaner air and community cohesion.
Dr Jonathan Flaxman a retired GP and member of the National Covid Assessment Unit set the scene with the above Power Point presentation.
He was followed by Simon Hester, formerly of the Health and Safety Executive and now Haringey Trades Council, who spoke of workers' rights under the Employment Rights Act to remove themselves from danger. The government had moved the goal posts on construction workers, first insisting on a 2 metre social spacing, then relaxed that to a 15 minute limit on working in proximity to a co-worker, and followed that to approval of co-working as long as masks are worn. The ability of the HSE to inspect construction site working for compliance has been severely limited by government cuts - there are only 20 inspectors to cover the whole of London. The only alternative was for workers to organise collectively in order to protect themselves. Haringey TUC had set up a Covid Action Network.
Cllr Krupesh Hirani, Brent Cabinet member for Public Health, Culture and Leisure, said that at the beginning of the crisis Brent had the highest death rate. Croydon and Newham in London are high at present and rates in the North of England are mounting. On 8th May the figures for Brent stood at 446 deaths of which 362 were in hospital and 37 in care homes. The R rate (spreading of infection) is now lower in London and there are prospects of regional variation in relaxation of the lockdown. The disproportionate rates for BAME residents are under investigation and will be followed up by public health outreach work in the community. Likely factors are deprivation, diet and physical activity. The major issue arising out of the crisis for the council would be the impact on its finances with the government backtracking on early compensation commitments.
Cat Cray of the RMT, a train driver, said that a survey had found that Londoner's had the pooresr knowledge of government guidance on Covis19 in the country. There had been 4 deaths of London Underground workers - all black males. In response RMT had been able to have mitigation put in place. There have been 8 incidents of spitting at staff by the public. London has the lowest proportion of car owners in the country so are reliant on public transpoirt. Underground workers that going above 15% capacity on the tube will be unsafe for passengers. The withdrawal of concessionary fares was outright discrimination.
Lesley Stanfield of the GMB spoke about the national situation regarding care homes and how the government had acted too late. She reminded people that most care homes are 'for profit' and this was the case in Brent. As a consequence workers were low paid. Many care hoem staff had not bee given PPE or that which was given was rationed. She said that there had been constructive work with other unions over school workers and that it was important that headteachers consulted with their staff. She was fearful about about mental health issues airsing from the crisis.
Sonia Morgan, a bus driver said that after deaths of bus drivers, protective measures had been put in place, isolating the driver from passengers. There is now no swiping and the public are enjoying free travel but swiping is being introduced on the 'Boris' buses which have centre doors with swipe facilites. Currently TfL are running a Sunday service on most routes but the 98 is nownormal service and 260 will be normal from Saturday.
Jenny Cooper from Brent NEU spoke about the union's 5 tests to be met before safe re-opening of schools. These had not been met as cases were still not low enough and there was no detail on how 'test, track, isolate' would be implemented in schools and no guidance from Brent Council. Testing of staff had not been fully estabished and some teachers had been waiting for more than two weeks for results, There was no proper plan to protect BAME school staff. The union was adopting a 'safety first' approach and some schools had put back wider re-openung until June 8th or June 15th.
Barry Gardiner, MP for Brent North said he supported the education unions' 5 tests and said that there was no compulsion for schools to go back until it ws safe to do so. He congratulated Brent Council on ordering PPE for care homes in February resulting in the second lowest care home death rate in London. On the furlough scheme he said that no one should be receiving less than the London Living Wage. He had written to the Home Secerary about the plight of families not entitled to support from public funds and had heard that applications will now be considred. The government had not been following the science from the beginning - in fact they had asked what they should do after early failures and were still not following the advice,
Dawn Butler, MP for Brent Central, said she was worried about a second peak in Brent - people were at risk as soon as they left the front door. Harlesden with its high rate of infection was to be a pilot for testing, including testing for anti-bodies, with a centre in Robson Avenue. There was a huge time delay at present between having a test and getting a result, a rapid reponse was vital for effective implementation of track and trace, She was concerned about rents, including for small businesses, domestic violence and post-Covid mental health provision for adults and children.
In discussion about the situation after Covid (the 'new normal') Pam Laurance of Brent Friends of the Earth said that people did not want to go back to pre-Covid times. She wanted to see investment in a Green New Deal. Dawn Butler supported this and said that bailing out companies such as aviation should be conditional. Dawn was supporting action to ensure that people in Brent would have access to face coverings.
Barry Gardiner said that the Covid crisis would pale into insignificance compared with what we would face in the climate change crisis. It was important to move towards 'Building Back Better' post Covid. He said that it was not just a question of aviation companies being required not to pay dividiends or go go off-shire but of taking an equity stake in them as had been done with banks in the credit crisis (there was disagreement over this in the 'chat' column with some feeling that this would mean the state colluding with the aviation industry in order to maximise its return on the investment).
Jenny Cooper said that over the past few weeks the NEU had held positive talks with Brent Council on how schools can be built into the environmental agenda.
Cllr Hirani said that closer work between unions and the council on a practical levels as a result of the crisis was something to build on. There was a need for the council to be fully compensated by the government for its expenditure on protecting residents - the government appeared to be going back on its initial pledge to local government. The bail out of TfL had involved too many concessions and revealed the government's political attitude towards the London Mayor. The government was being exposed in front of our eyes and it was important to keep up the pressure on them.
The meeting discussed a possible future meeting, to be confirmed by the Brent Trades Council Executive, to set up a Brent Against Covid Campaign. On chat I suggested it would be more positive to call it Brent Build Back Better Campaign.