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From The Socialist newspaper, 8 July 2020
Johnson blames care workers for deaths - real cause: cuts and privatisation
photo Chris Marchant/CC (Click to enlarge)
Boris Johnson has tried to shift the blame for the scandal of mass Covid-19 deaths in care homes. During a speech in Yorkshire, he said: "Too many care homes didn't really follow the procedures in the way that they could have." So that would make it care workers' fault.
Those would be the procedures which the government changed on an almost daily basis, would they? The procedures which diverted coronavirus-positive people into, and PPE away from, the care sector? The procedures which delayed or prevented essential measures like quarantine and testing?
Profiteering private care bosses put in place by Tory and Blairite privatisation may share some of the blame. But heroic, low-paid workers in the care sector deserve none.
Johnson has tried to backtrack on his statement due to the backlash. What care workers and service users need on top of PPE and testing is a living wage and more staff. The Socialist Party fights for trade union action to win this, with full funding, public ownership and democratic control.
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The coronavirus crisis has laid bare the class character of society in numerous ways. It is making clear to many that it is the working class that keeps society running, not the CEOs of major corporations.
The results of austerity have been graphically demonstrated as public services strain to cope with the crisis.
The government has now ripped up its 'austerity' mantra and turned to policies that not long ago were denounced as socialist. But after the corona crisis, it will try to make the working class pay for it, by trying to claw back what has been given.
- The Socialist Party's material is more vital than ever, so we can continue to report from workers who are fighting for better health and safety measures, against layoffs, for adequate staffing levels, etc.
- When the health crisis subsides, we must be ready for the stormy events ahead and the need to arm workers' movements with a socialist programme - one which puts the health and needs of humanity before the profits of a few.
Inevitably, during the crisis we have not been able to sell the Socialist and raise funds in the ways we normally would.
We therefore urgently appeal to all our viewers to donate to our Fighting Fund.
In The Socialist 8 July 2020:
Workplace news
Fantastic virtual NSSN conference: "Fight for our lives and livelihoods''
Homerton hospital workers deserve equal pay and conditions
Jobcentre reopening: only union struggle will put safety first
Southampton UCU: election victory for combative rank and file
Tower Hamlets council workers strike against wholesale attack on terms and conditions
Nottingham unions fight council job cuts
News
Fight for every job, fight for socialism
Young people have no choice but to fight the system
Leicester: End the scandal of sweatshop labour
Covid pandemic and Northern Ireland - workers must resist the bosses' offensive
£1,600 less benefits if your job goes - while super-rich splash cash
Testing: Tories' £5bn gift to private sector
Johnson blames care workers for deaths
£3bn green pledge: not enough for climate or jobs
Poverty rises again - especially for BAME workers
No going back
No going back: Nationalise social care!
Campaigns
The best place to start - join the Socialist Party
Trans rights protests oppose Tory backsliding
Black Lives Matter - the fight is not over
International news
Hong Kong: The fight for democratic rights
Bangladesh: Stop closure and privatisation of Jute Mills
Readers' opinion
TV: The school that tried to end racism
Books that inspired me: The Fire Next Time
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2020