Link to this page: https://www.socialistparty.org.uk/issue/1093/31001
From The Socialist newspaper, 1 July 2020
MoJ cleaners' covid outbreak
The Ministry of Justice (MoJ) and private cleaning company OCS have been accused of ignoring demands to investigate a coronavirus outbreak among workers after four cleaners fell sick with suspected Covid-19. One cleaner died just hours following a shift after being forced to work while sick, and another was sacked while self-isolating.
The worker who died, Emanuel Gomes, was a member of the United Voices of the World union, which says that he was so feverish and unwell the day he died that "he didn't know where he was. But he knew that if he didn't work he would get to the end of the month and wouldn't have enough money."
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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 1 July 2020:
No going back
A socialist NHS fit for heroes
Workplace news
PCS: Change in leadership needed to secure union's future
Sunday trading: Government blinks first
Trade unionists stand in solidarity with Maxine Peake
Equity union president elections
What we think
Workers need a new mass party to defend their interests
News
Tories put profit before lives
Tory full return to school plans gamble with lives
Yes to self-identity: Fight for trans rights
Benefits system being used to force return to unsafe workplaces
Leeds City Council in danger of bankruptcy
Capitalism and corruption go hand in hand
Campaigns
I left Labour and want to end capitalism - join us in Socialist Party
Cardiff community fights nursery closure: Council must step in
Fighting Fund: Target smashed by half time
Black Lives Matter has not stopped - protesters flock to Socialists
Red flags line road for Ken Douglas
Lessons from history
75th anniversary of the Attlee Labour government
Readers' opinion
From slavery to Black Lives Matter - racism and capitalist injustice exposed
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