By Bethany Rielly in Britain, 25 May 2020:
Ignore ‘failed’ PM and open when safe, schools and councils urged
TEACHERS have called on schools to ignore the “failed” Prime Minister and only reopen when they are sure it is safe.
The call today from National Education Union joint general secretary Mary Bousted came after a weekend in which embattled PM Boris Johnson — on the ropes over the lockdown breach by his top adviser Dominic Cummings — insisted that he would begin a wider reopening of schools on June 1 despite fears over safety.
Councils, schools and unions have urged the government to follow scientific advice and delay school openings that could revive the spread of the coronavirus.
Who is Dominic Cummings? PETER FROST uncovers a few facts about the man who it seems has a different coronavirus rule book from the rest of us. See also here. And here.
Where the wealthy go in epidemics, then and now. Research shows that as the pandemic hit, those fleeing New York and London were white, educated and rich — we are certainly not all in it together, says KEITH FLETT.
How hundreds were excluded from the Tories’ ‘Everybody In’ scheme. On March 26 the government declared that every rough sleeper must be brought in off the streets. The call was hailed as a ‘landmark moment’ and an opportunity to eradicate homelessness once and for all. But why, two months later, are there still hundreds of people sleeping rough? See here.
Government’s own science advisers flag risks to opening schools in June: here.
From daily The Morning Star in Britain, 25 May 2020:
Majority of education staff anxious about returning to work, Unison survey finds
THE vast majority of education staff in Scotland are anxious about returning to work, according to a Unison survey.
The union’s poll of more than 5,000 education staff in Scotland found that 83 per cent are worried about going back to work or increasing the number of children returning to classrooms.
Just 3 per cent of respondents to the survey, carried out between Monday May 18 and Friday May 22, consider it safe to return to work.
By Jamie Caldwell in Scotland, 25 May 2020:
The picture has become clear for all to see. The Tories want to save money not lives
The Tories would have us paying for this crisis to claw back normality for the most wealthy – we can’t allow that to happen, says JAMIE CALDWELL
NEVER before have we been given the opportunity to go forward in a different way like now.
Back to normal can’t be back to “normal”. Deep divides, rampant inequality and the underfunding of our NHS, including so many staff going underpaid — all of them key worker “heroes”.
They don’t need charity. They need proper, secure jobs with decent pay and conditions and a union for solidarity.
From daily The Morning Star in Britain, 25 May 2020:
Workers must have access to Covid-19 tests and be given paid time off to do so, TUC urges
WORKERS must have access to testing for coronavirus including paid time off to be tested, the TUC urged yesterday.
The trade union organisation said there should be easily accessible testing sites as part of measures to ease the economic lockdown.
Priority should be given to those in at-risk and shielding groups or who care for individuals in those groups, it said.
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