14 Maintaining the Divide: Labour Law and COVID-19
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Katie Bales
Abstract
In interrupting the supply and demand necessary for global capitalism to function, COVID-19 has significantly impacted upon our working lives. It has exposed the existing inequalities present within our labour framework and drawn attention to the working conditions of ‘front-line workers’ who have been consistently undervalued and underpaid by UK governments and businesses. The government’s response, such as the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme (‘CJRS’), further exemplifies the problematic and hierarchical nature of employment status which privileges certain groups over others. Coupled with a reduction in union representation and cuts to regulatory ‘red-tape’ for employers, the balance between workers’ rights and business interests has been tilted in favour of the latter for decades.
This chapter begins by exploring the ways in which lockdown impacted on the workforce and the position of front-line workers. It then interrogates the existing labour framework on employment status which continues to create precarious classes of workers in the name of ‘flexibility’. Finally, the chapter addresses the situation of undocumented workers who, absent the criminal law, remain abandoned by the state. Undoubtedly, the insecure immigration status of those who are undocumented creates a form of hyper-precarity which distinguishes them from our traditional understanding of the precariat. What we see then, is that a hierarchy of rights and entitlements remains prevalent under the COVID-19 labour packages which privileges those with greater security (and often income) over those who are perhaps most in need.
Abstract
In interrupting the supply and demand necessary for global capitalism to function, COVID-19 has significantly impacted upon our working lives. It has exposed the existing inequalities present within our labour framework and drawn attention to the working conditions of ‘front-line workers’ who have been consistently undervalued and underpaid by UK governments and businesses. The government’s response, such as the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme (‘CJRS’), further exemplifies the problematic and hierarchical nature of employment status which privileges certain groups over others. Coupled with a reduction in union representation and cuts to regulatory ‘red-tape’ for employers, the balance between workers’ rights and business interests has been tilted in favour of the latter for decades.
This chapter begins by exploring the ways in which lockdown impacted on the workforce and the position of front-line workers. It then interrogates the existing labour framework on employment status which continues to create precarious classes of workers in the name of ‘flexibility’. Finally, the chapter addresses the situation of undocumented workers who, absent the criminal law, remain abandoned by the state. Undoubtedly, the insecure immigration status of those who are undocumented creates a form of hyper-precarity which distinguishes them from our traditional understanding of the precariat. What we see then, is that a hierarchy of rights and entitlements remains prevalent under the COVID-19 labour packages which privileges those with greater security (and often income) over those who are perhaps most in need.
Chapters in this book
- Front Matter i
- Contents vii
- List of Figures and Tables ix
- Notes on Contributors xi
- Preface xiii
- Series Editor’s Preface xv
- Introduction 1
-
Justice
- Ruling the Pandemic 15
- Remote Justice and Vulnerable Litigants: The Case of Asylum 27
- Virtual Poverty? What Happens When Criminal Trials Go Online? 41
- Genera-Relational Justice in the COVID-19 Recovery Period: Children in the Criminal Justice System 53
- Racism as Legal Pandemic: Thoughts on Critical Legal Pedagogies 65
- Rights and Solidarity during COVID-19 79
- COVID-19 PPE Extremely Urgent Procurement in England: A Cautionary Tale for an Overheating Public Governance 93
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The Social
- Accountability for Health and the NHS under COVID-19: The ‘Left behind’ and the Rule of Law in Post-Brexit UK 107
- COVID-19 in Adult Social Care: Futures, Funding and Fairness 119
- Housing, Homelessness and COVID-19 131
- Education, Austerity and the COVID-19 Generation 143
- What Have We Learned about the Corporate Sector in COVID-19? 155
- Social Security under and after COVID-19 171
- Maintaining the Divide: Labour Law and COVID-19 187
- From Loss to (Capital) Gains: Reflections on Tax and Spending in the Pandemic Aftermath 199
- Index 209
Chapters in this book
- Front Matter i
- Contents vii
- List of Figures and Tables ix
- Notes on Contributors xi
- Preface xiii
- Series Editor’s Preface xv
- Introduction 1
-
Justice
- Ruling the Pandemic 15
- Remote Justice and Vulnerable Litigants: The Case of Asylum 27
- Virtual Poverty? What Happens When Criminal Trials Go Online? 41
- Genera-Relational Justice in the COVID-19 Recovery Period: Children in the Criminal Justice System 53
- Racism as Legal Pandemic: Thoughts on Critical Legal Pedagogies 65
- Rights and Solidarity during COVID-19 79
- COVID-19 PPE Extremely Urgent Procurement in England: A Cautionary Tale for an Overheating Public Governance 93
-
The Social
- Accountability for Health and the NHS under COVID-19: The ‘Left behind’ and the Rule of Law in Post-Brexit UK 107
- COVID-19 in Adult Social Care: Futures, Funding and Fairness 119
- Housing, Homelessness and COVID-19 131
- Education, Austerity and the COVID-19 Generation 143
- What Have We Learned about the Corporate Sector in COVID-19? 155
- Social Security under and after COVID-19 171
- Maintaining the Divide: Labour Law and COVID-19 187
- From Loss to (Capital) Gains: Reflections on Tax and Spending in the Pandemic Aftermath 199
- Index 209
