Today's Topics:
1. Britain, anarchist communist group ACG: The Massacre of the
Old: Murder Most Foul! (a-infos-en@ainfos.ca)
2. freedom news - Germany: Seasonal workers force farm bosses
to pay up (a-infos-en@ainfos.ca)
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Message: 1
From the editors of Grey Panther, ACG pensioners' bulletin. ---- At least a quarter of those who have died in the UK from COVID-19 are
residents of care homes (not to mention the 300 plus care workers who have died of the disease). ---- The elderly are more likely to
contract the disease, as we know, but this doesn't explain the large number of deaths in care homes. The Johnson regime is still not
accurately recording the numbers of deaths from COVID-19, leaving out deaths at home and in care homes. ---- The disproportionate number of
people over the age of 60 who have died from COVID-19 can be explained by two things: ---- 1) The increasing privatisation of the care
system ---- 2) Deliberate policies by the Johnson government
Tackling the first factor, it can be seen that in 1993, 95% of care at home was provided by local councils. It is now almost completely
provided by private companies. The shareholders of these companies cared more about profit than the care of the elderly, and many collapsed
because of this, even before the COVID-19 cataclysm.
These companies have sought to maximise profit by employing workers on zero hour contracts.
In 1996, under the Tory government of John Major, care homes were privatised with the ultimate result that they contributed to the large
numbers of deaths among residents of care homes.
One of the worst example is Four Seasons Care whose care homes in Glasgow and Edinburgh both reported 13 deaths each from COVID-19.Four
Seasons became one of the biggest care providers in Britain with a total of 101 homes by 2000. They used privatisation to get hold of care
homes at bargain basement prices. For example, Dumfries and Galloway Council sold five care homes worth £2.03 million to them for £1 each.
Four Seasons was taken over by private equity firms. They gobbled up another big private care provider, Southern Cross, in 2011, which had
spiralled into debt, but themselves went into administration last year with huge debts.
In December Four Seasons handed over 44 care homes to other private care providers, but continued to run the remainder. The running of care
homes by these various private companies has proved to be shambolic. Whilst vainly attempting to make profits, these employers treated care
workers abysmally, with zero hour contracts, little training, low pay and the resulting big turnover of staff. Many of these workers were
themselves sub-contracted by care worker agencies. On top of this, these care homes increased their fees for residents and their families.
At the same time, these care homes have been run as cheaply as possible, in order to maximise profits for shareholders. These shareholders
include many pension funds and many offshore investors. We should really gasp at the appalling cynicism of pension funds, where the
management of retirement savings is used to exploit the dependence of the elderly!
Another disastrous result of privatisation was a fall in the number of care homes with many of those remaining being larger homes where the
coronavirus could spread more rapidly.
The second contributory factor in this culling of the elderly has been the wilful policies of the present government.
In 2019 the Global Health Security Index classed the UK as ranking second in the world for readiness for a pandemic (the first was the USA,
where Trump dismantled pandemic preparations put in place by Obama).
Despite what Dominic Cummings said in his recent performance in the garden at No. 10 that he and his boss were always in favour of lockdown,
the Johnson administration was convinced that herd immunity was better than lockdown to counter the coronavirus. It announced this on 26th
January. Cummings himself at a private event at the end of February announced that herd immunity was the way forward, and that it didn't
matter if some pensioners died. It was echoed by Sir Patrick Vallance, the government's chief medical adviser. Cummings at the appearance in
the Downing Street garden, even went as far as claiming he had predicted the pandemic "for years". In fact, in April this year, he secretly
doctored a year-old post on his blog to add a warning about pandemics.
Even if the lockdown had been put in place just a week earlier, it would have saved 30,000 lives and reduced infections and deaths by a
factor of five, according to the climate modeller James Annam.
In fact, the Johnson government knew by February 11th what the results of the virus spreading to Britain would be. Instead, nothing
happened. Result, the UK now has the highest number of deaths and infections per capita. Testing and tracking were dropped by the Johnson
regime on March 12th, and there was no testing of those travellers coming into the UK.
The status of the pandemic alert was reduced in the third week of March, meaning that the standard of PPE equipment for health workers was
reduced.
But it also meant, that on March 19th, infectious patients could be returned to non-specialist care, which meant that many elderly people
suffering from the coronavirus were deliberately returned to care homes, there to die in thousands.
All of this should have been obvious to the Johnson government. Exercise Cygnus, a pandemic simulation exercise carried out in 2016,
established that a pandemic would have deadly consequences for care homes. The government at that time said that it carried out the
recommendations of the exercise, that new measures needed to be put into place to protect the elderly. It appears that the present
government has broken these guidelines. It means that patients were not tested for the disease and that they were then moved back from
hospitals to care homes. Agency staff were allowed to move from care home to care home, in the process spreading the disease.
All of this has been deliberate. The Johnson government acts to protect the big shareholders and maximise profits. Everything becomes a
victim of the market. Social services, health and care, are privatised. Pay is kept down, both in the privatised care homes and in the
public sector.
The deaths of many thousands from coronavirus are the result of the fatal logic of capitalism. Both private companies and those who act
within the State are looking out only for profit. There is no respect for the elderly in all of this, profit comes first.
We accuse capitalism and those who help administer it, the Johnson government, of mass murder. They are out to make money out of people at
the ends of their lives.
The elderly should be looked after and cared for. Many have contributed much to society. Care homes should be socialised, as one of the
urgent measures required by a social revolution. This socialisation should involve the direct input of care workers, residents and their
families. It is increasingly clear that capitalism exercises a death grip over all aspects of society, whether it be climate change or old
age. Time to finish with it!
https://www.anarchistcommunism.org/2020/05/28/the-massacre-of-the-old-murder-most-foul/
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Message: 2
Creditors who had taken over the Spargel Ritter asparagus farm in Bornheim, Bonn, thought they could get away without paying what they owed
to low-waged workers, but a solid campaign organised with the FAU syndicalist union soon disabused them of that notion. ---- The trouble
with Spargel Ritter started two months before picking season was due to begin in April of this year, when creditors began bankruptcy
proceedings against farm owners Claus and Sabine Ritter. Migrant workers were already being hired, mostly from Romania, despite an evident
running-down of the site as the Ritters got into deeper financial trouble. ---- A report on the site in February described a rubbish-strewn
mess where containers for the workers were no longer being even vaguely maintained and activity had been cut to the bone, a situation that
certainly wasn't going to improve when the creditors, led by law firm Dr. Schulte-Beckhausen & Bühs, rolled in.
Instead things got significantly worse when the workers started arriving for the harvest in mid-April, as it turned out that lead
administrator Andreas Schulte-Beckhausen had no intention of paying for the back-breaking labour he was imposing on 240 harvest helpers who
had travelled 1,800 miles to be there.
On May 15th, workers expected to get the wages they'd worked for, but instead got pittance money of €100-200 for a month's work in the
fields - €3-7 Euros a day for leaving their homes and families to live 4-5 to a room in rubbish-strewn shacks next to a sewage treatment
plant in one of the richest regions on Earth, with no guarantee of seeing the rest as creditors attempted to rinse the collapsing company
for all it was worth.
It was a final slap in the face on top of a mounting list of insulting behaviour from the new owners, who had already, according to the
workers, been cutting corners wherever possible, including providing food that was mouldy and out of date, not bothering to provide heaters
or adequate sanitation and latterly, a lack of PPE or virus distancing measures. Safety was so poor that one worker had been paralysed.
So their response was immediate. More than 150 people protested in the courtyard of the farm, making it clear they wouldn't be wasting their
time further without full payment.
The situation quickly escalated and when the FAU tried to send reps down - three workers were members - the administrators attempted a full
lockdown, barring them from the site. Security were hired, at great expense, and up to 20 Bonn Police officers were drafted in to keep
control as bosses threatened to evict the overcrowded containers being used to house them.
On the 19th around 80 harvest workers and a larger number of union supporters marched on the Romanian Consulate in Bonn to publicise their
grievance, turning it into an international political issue, prompting major news sited to pick up on the issue and piling pressure on
Schulte-Beckhausen, who they described as acting like the Mafia. A FAU rep stated at the rally: "The farce at Spargel Ritter must now be
ended. Wages have to be paid, sick people have to be properly looked after. It is unbearable that this condition continues. "
A day later more money was magically forthcoming, as the administrators attempted to buy off the protests as inexpensively as possible. Even
so, they attempted to stymie union oversight by diving workers into groups of ten, bussing them out of the area and only allowing FAU access
to one vehicle.
FAU Bonn Tweeted: "We have achieved our minimum goal: the workers are not bankrupt and have no prospect of being put out on the street. Now
the legal battle begins."
The demands remaining for the Spargel Ritter workers include:
All workers to be paid three months' wages. The monthly wage is based on 30 working hours per week, remunerated at €9.35 per hour.
All workers who wish it must be supported with a referral to other companies.
A return trip to their home town should be organised for all workers who wish to leave, with the employer covering the cost. In the case of
workers who need this for medical reasons, the costs of returning the patient to health mustbe borne.
All workers are entitled to sick pay for sick days, at the regular rate of pay.
The legal end of the showdown is now in swing as FAU attempts to enforce full rights for the workers and eventually get them home with their
full wage. The union is asking for support for its legal aid fund, details below.
FAU | IBAN: DE25
https://freedomnews.org.uk/germany-seasonal-workers-force-farm-bosses-to-pay-up/
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