This won't work

GabriellaG54 ; many people have been told they can return to work and most of them are the blue collar workers that cannot still work from home. These people/workers are sent out to use public transport to reach their work place as many of them live in London and surrounding areas and have no need of a car as they have always relied on buses and trains. There have been enough T.V. crews showing the overcrowding. no social distancing and hardly anybody wearing face coverings on this transport so is it any wonder that people are declining the offer to return to work.
Take a look at how many bus drivers have lost their lives as they also are front-line workers also there have been cases of train drivers also catching the coronavirus. These people who are front-line workers also have to deal with passengers that get angry over delays and look at the most prominent case of the lady who was spat on and contracted the disease and died.

I do not think it is anybody's place to be critical of people not yet returning to work we have had a huge death toll with this virus and many seem to forget it is not over yet.
As for the assumption of people getting cash in hand jobs that sounds ludicrous to me and where is the proof of that.
Nothing is open and there has been no work going on so where are these cash in hand jobs? Just like the troops being put on the front-line in the war the same is being done to these people being put onto trains buses etc and facing an enemy that is indiscriminate and a fierce killer.

Train drivers are 'locked' into their cabs and do not come into contact with the travelling public when they are working.
There are pros and cons in most situations.
Our government makes the rules. I abide by them.
What you think is not necessarily what I think and who is to say who is right and who is wrong?
I'm content that I don't jump in with claws unsheathed just because I don't agree with a post.
I express my own views which are arrived at after reading and listening to many different outlets.
That's all I have to say to you.
?

Woo what was that about anger issues and chill?

That's all I have to say to you
?

If only...

GabriellaG54 : your quote "Our government makes the rules.
I abide by them. You do not jump in with claws unsheathed just because you don't agree with a post.

How would you feel about being in your employment and having a member of the public spit on you?
Just expressing my views which I arrive at after reading and seeing statistics and having a lot of sympathy for the families of dead people.
There is no answer to that for me, and that's all I have to say to you.

Gabriella is just looking for a fight.

In very poor taste when the issue is the working classes putting their lives on the line. Whatever happened to noblesse oblige? Not that a Daily Mail reading Farage supporter fits the 'noblesse' category, but you get my gist

Gabriella I haven't seen any "claws unsheathed" - it seems that is the way you describe people disagreeing with you.

It is very easy for some people - such as people furloughed and working from home, self-employed people who work from a home office and retired people - who are cosily tucked away at home - to become indignant about those who are reluctant to go back to work.

Like everyone else, I am concerned about the virus but I have from the outset gone out for a walk every day for over an hour -unlike some people who are terrified to step over their front doorstep. However, since the lockdown I have not taken a bus, train or the tube and do not intend to do so at the moment - because that does make me feel nervous. Who am I - or anyone who is reluctant to leave their home and who is scared to use public transport - to pass judgment on people who might have to travel some distance to work by public transport and then to spend the whole day in an enclosed environment with several other people.

It has been reported today that the infection rate is creeping up again so isn't it quite natural that some people who are being urged to go back to work are frightened?

GajoJo True. Isn't it strange that MPs and Peers have not announced that they are going back to work in Westminster but everyone else should. Always one rule for them and one for others.

While there are people still dying I won't be following any government rules I'm afraid. It's suicide !

My GGC won't be going back to school.. My D isn't going back to work until the folk here in the NW stop dying . I won't be going any further than the corner shop. No supermarket shopping within a building breathing in other people's germs.

I certainly wouldn't be flippant about this virus, it's not to be underestimated.

Prince or pauper, it'll kill.

EllanVannin, very sensible. Let's face it, those returning to work or school risk being in the next 'batch' of cases!

And the corner shop is still open for the people who think it’s too dangerous for them to face the public.......

Our corner shop only lets in 3 people at a time. Does the super market ?

Room for six in ours plus two staff so quite a lot of exhaled germs I suspect with only the door open for ventilation- probably not 100% safe but then I doubt anywhere in public is.

It seems like the OP jumped in in with “claws unsheathed” in the beginning - slamming those who are being furloughed for being lazy so and so’s who are all getting backhanders working as well as lying on the sofa all day when they could be squashed up on public transport. If they are in the travel or hospitality sector there aren’t any jobs to go to btw.

vegansrock, the OP is a fairly wealthy women who hasn't had to struggle and castigates public/key workers (nurses, teachers etc) for not making better career choices.

On this occasion, I don't think she actually wanted to be nasty, I think she was looking for an argument. Probably bored in isolation.

So which one is it? How are furloughed workers managing to simultaneously laze around on the sofa all day and work for cash in hand?

Very good point, Ilovecheese. I wish I was able to multitask like that!

Working people lounging around, being paid to do nothing? Who do they think they are, the royal family?

Hahaha. Exactly. Work peasants. Lash!

GG54 on 14/05/2020 22:24 you wrote:

No problem, FarNorth, no problem at all.

So why did you start this topic at all?

And why are you here now, still banging on about those lazy people who should be in work?

And complaining about GNers who disagree with you while claiming you enjoy reading different opinions?

gillybob - As an employer, once you have ensured safe working conditions for your employees and notified them and the government that you now expect them to come to work, what is likely to happen?

Are they highly skilled and thus difficult to replace if they leave?

Are they likely to find equally good employment?
Bearing in mind they won't be able to claim furlough from a new employer.

I do understand this is a terrible situation for you.

GagaJo Quote [vegansrock, the OP is a fairly wealthy women] End Quote.

GagaJo, the OP has very often stated in the past that she is a very wealthy woman who gained that wealth from being married to a very successful Banker.

However, the OP has forgotten that the Banking industry was bailed out to the tune of many billions of pounds following the banking crisis. That crisis was entirely of the banking and finance industries own making but all attached to the industry benefited greatly from that taxpayer bailout.

However, the OP now castigates others for receiving government funding for the effects on them of a crisis that was not in any way of their making.

Thanks Grandad.

I think she was just stirring. Obviously she's partial to whatever handouts SHE gets. It's just the proles she doesn't want benefitting.

A worker can't simply "decline" a reasonable request to return to work. That would be breach of contract.

There's nothing stopping furloughed workers working for someone else whilst on furlough.

Some people are loving furlough. You can't really blame them. I'd love it too. .

I think you'll find workers CAN refuse to return if they are in any of the at risk categories. I have asthma. Not safe for me.