The Socialist 29 April 2020

Workers’ safety before bosses’ profits

Workers' safety before bosses' profits

Dispatches from the front: PPE chaos goes on

Private firm causes weeks of delay to free school meal vouchers: bring it back in-house!

No return to the 1930s: World War Two and 'a land fit for heroes'

May Day 2020: join the protests - wear red, bring flags and banners

130 Years of May Day in Britain: Fight for workers' rights more relevant than ever

May Day greetings pull out 2020

Workers fighting to defend safety and livelihoods - NSSN national meeting a huge success

Civil servants in Paisley protest after Covid outbreak

Irish police use Covid-19 emergency powers to disperse Dublin shop workers' protest

B&M Bargains management puts profit before safety

Schools: No return without a national union agreement that guarantees safety!

Unions must organise throughout crisis

Waltham Forest trade unions discuss the fight for PPE and workplace safety

Woolwich ferry - workers secure 100% furlough agreement

ISS workers' pay victory

Should the Socialist still be produced during the Corona crisis? An exchange with Mark Serwotka about sales of the Socialist

Coronavirus crisis finance appeal

Adding demands to the weekly claps

Going viral: Socialist comments and letters

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Coronavirus

From the frontline: B&M Bargains management puts profit before safety

B&M Bargains, photo Hugh Venables/CC (Click to enlarge)

A B&M Bargains worker

The attitude of B&M Bargains management has been 'business as usual'. Some staff are furloughed, often in stores in shopping centres which have closed anyway, and some admin staff. But most are still working, with the company's attitude being that we can pick up sales from competitors while they are closed.

B&M management is using the argument that we are key workers because we sell food, but it's a minority of what we usually sell, and in my store we're selling even less than usual at the moment. Instead, most of the people coming in are in the garden, DIY and paint aisles.

In the rush to sell as much as possible, health and safety is going out the window. We've had cages blocking fire exits so people can restock quicker. The cleaner in store had to self-isolate, yet for days no-one replaced her. Our till screens are next to useless. They are free standing but they keep falling and hitting the cashiers on the head. It's been reported to management but nothing is being done.

Easter weekend was the worst period. We had a policy of only allowing 20 people in the store at a time, then it went up to 30, 35, 40 and then 120 at a time! Management told us they were letting in "only how many we feel safe" - I think they really wanted to make as much money as possible. To cap it all, we had a regional manager in on Good Friday. Was he concerned about our safety? No, he was more bothered about stock on the paint aisle!

It's only through the union, Usdaw that we've managed to win 10% hazard pay for those still working, but only from 29 March on old wage rates. We've also managed to get the company to agree to furlough staff, with letters telling them to 'shield' on 80% pay instead of just sick pay.

With a low union density at the moment, and just nine union reps across the country, we need more B&M Bargains workers to join Usdaw and get organised.

In this issue

Coronavirus news

Workers' safety before bosses' profits