Next please?!

Ahh two weeks off for many over a Christmas break is just perfect isn’t it?

Nurseries and schools shut and many parents are at home. Councils close, offices lock up until the New Year. Many of the tradies and transport/logistic companies do the same, as they make the most of putting their feet up for a much-deserved break to enjoy the festivities.

Every year between Christmas and New Year the usual madness of rush hour traffic simple vanishes for a couple of week as the commuters staying home. It is almost like being back in lockdown on the roads when it was only essential workers.

The roads may be relatively dead but there have still been a workforce going about and carrying on. Many of these have had two days off during the fortnight. Spare a moment to think about workers who will have been out each morning in the pitch black, freezing cold, cycling into a headwind and battling against the stinging icy rain. They have been waiting around for the limited service on offer from public transport that might turn up.

Yes, I am focussing my attention mainly on shop and café workers because they are sectors where the employees commonly receive the minimum wage. A workforce who are usually exempt from a long Christmas breaks. They are often working until late on Christmas Eve, they are back in for Boxing Day sales and possibly at work on New Year’s Day too.

Of course, I am fully aware there are other essential workers doing the same kind of hours, doctors, nurses, train drivers and such like. The reason why I highlight retail and hospitality specifically is that it is a workforce without any trade union representation. They are not supported/encouraged by any powerful membership; you will never see them take to the streets with placards, shutting up shop to go out on strike bemoaning their working conditions and demanding unrealistic pay awards or unaffordable pension changes. They do not inconvenience and disrupt others. They do not jeopardise public safety by walkouts or give our loved ones extra anguish over delays to life saving operations.

Yet this group are the backbone of our daily lives. We need them. They keep us all clothed, fed and watered and there is no option for this group of workers to work from home. 

They serve the corner shops, the big supermarkets; they pick our shopping orders for us. Its retailers on the high streets as well as out-of-town retail parks.  They deal with the chaos of Black Friday and January sales, many now wear bodycams after a rise in assaults and shoplifting incidents. It’s not an easy job.

So when you return to work this week, refreshed (maybe even glad to get back to normal routine?!) please take a moment to think of the fortnight they have worked through and I hope you can appreciate and value them the next time they serve your coffee with a smile and a friendly chat.