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Pupil peril

WHAT must ordinary teachers think about the cynical wrecking actions of their union leaders?

Dedicated classroom staff know the UKs chief medical officers are dead right to say kids are more at risk of long-term harm from staying at home than from returning to school.

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They appreciate more than most how youngsters have been damaged by more than five months without learning, and that the most disadvantaged kids have suffered disproportionately.

Their chief concern will be for the education of their pupils.

Of course they want to be safe, and they want the children to be safe, but they dont want to wait for impossible guarantees before returning to classrooms where the risk of infection is exceptionally small.

That cant be said of the union militants who see the Covid crisis as the perfect excuse to hold the Government to ransom.

For them, pupils are just useful political pawns. The latest obstacles to learning come from Unison demanding more money for cleaning and masks for teachers before it will agree to the return to school.

Wouldnt they and flip-flopping Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer enjoy the Governments discomfort if they turn the start of the new term into another education fiasco?

And if childrens futures are blighted in the process, so what?

Thats a risk the militants seem only too happy to take.

THE spate of illegal parties being broken up by police is shockingly predictable.

Young adults happy to binge on dubious Class A drugs and toxic quantities of alcohol are hardly likely to bother too much about social distancing.

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Meanwhile, sensibly-controlled pubs and restaurants face a return to lockdown if Covid infections rise when the real culprits are those spreading the disease at unregulated gatherings.

The deadly threat that partygoers pose to the elderly or vulnerable clearly doesnt bother them when they selfishly suppose they wont be badly affected if they catch Covid.

Raving idiots.

THE BBC is set to drop crowd favourites Land of Hope and Glory and Rule, Britannia from the Last Night of The Proms in solidarity with Black Lives Matter.

They think the perfect time to make the change is in the absence of a passionate audience who have cared deeply about these songs symbols of our national pride for more than 100 years.

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THE SUN SAYSBrussels is still bent on ensuring that Britain somehow loses out

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ALLY ROSSHarry Hills World Of TV is a safe space for un-PC comedy

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GEOFF PALMERBanning anthems from the Proms will only manipulate history & create confusion

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TREVOR KAVANAGHMacron is trying to use the migrant crisis as a Brexit negotiating weapon

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THE SUN ON SUNDAY SAYSPresident Macron and his pals must drop their outrageous tactics

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IAIN DUNCAN SMITHAfter exam fiasco we need a bonfire of the 412 quangos undermining MPs

The trouble is, there are too many at the Beeb who just dont like patriotism. Or Britain. Or their audience.

GOT a story? RING The Sun on 0207 782 4104 or WHATSAPP on 07423720250 or EMAILexclusive@the-sun.co.uk

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Union militants see Covid crisis as the perfect excuse to hold the Government to ransom - The Sun

A majority of Indian citizens -- 43 per cent -- believe that both the central and state governments are responsible for the migrant crisis. This is according to the findings of August 2020 round of India Today Mood of the Nation Survey.

FULL RESULTS OF THE INDIA TODAY MOOD OF THE NATION AUGUST 2020

43 per cent of the 12,021 respondents surveyed in the MOTN poll said both the central and state governments were responsible for the mass exodus of migrant workers. Another 14 per cent blamed only the state governments for the migrant crisis, while 10 per cent pointed fingers at the Centre.

However, 13 per cent of the respondents feel it was the fault of employers of the migrant workers and labourers due to which they suffered. Meanwhile, 12 per cent put the blame on rumour and misinformation that the migrants 'fell prey to'.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi's March 24 announcement stoked panic. Migrant workers everywhere began their long march home.

Migrants were walking thousands of kilometres on foot, with many hitch hiking on trucks or rode bicycles.

The Shramik special trains announced by the government finally came as a relief in May.

On June 6, the Railway Board said that 58 lakh migrant workers stranded across the country were ferried to their native places during the Covid-19 lockdown. The Indian Railways operated 4,286 Shramik special trains till June 6. Following which, the demand for the trains started to decrease. The government said that workers who were found walking on roads were provided with transportation to the nearest railway stations.

METHODOLOGY OF MOTN POLL

The India Today Mood of the Nation (MOTN) poll was conducted by Delhi-based market research agency between July 15, 2020 and July 27, 2020. This poll has traditionally been conducted using face-to-face interviewing method. However, in this edition of the survey, due to the unprecedented situation arising out of Covid-19 pandemic, all interviews were conducted telephonically using a standard structured questionnaire, which was translated into regional languages.

A total of 12,021 interviews were conducted-67 per cent in rural and 33 per cent in urban areas-spread across 97 parliamentary constituencies and 194 assembly constituencies in 19 states-Andhra Pradesh, Assam, Bihar, Chhattisgarh, Delhi, Gujarat, Haryana, Jharkhand, Karnataka, Kerala, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Odisha, Punjab, Rajasthan, Tamil Nadu, Telangana, Uttar Pradesh and West Bengal. In each of the assembly constituencies, a fixed number of interviews were done.

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Mood of the nation: Majority believe Centre and states responsible for migrant crisis - India Today

Canadas largest food processing workers union is calling for sweeping changes to the Temporary Foreign Worker program in the fallout of COVID-19 flare-ups that have seen more than 1,300 migrant workers in Ontario test positive and three die.

The United Food and Commercial Workers (UFCW) says federal and provincial changes are needed to provide temporary foreign workers with paths to permanent residency, improved labour rights, open work permits and the right to unionization and a collective agreement.

The pandemic has uncovered a crisis within a crisis, said Santiago Escobar, a national representative with UFCW. If measures were implemented a long time ago, probably their situation would be different.

In a 46-page special report, The Status of Migrant Farm Workers in Canada, 2020, the UFCW outlines seven provincial and seven federal reforms needed to protect migrant workers better.

At the federal level, theyre calling to make unionization a mandatory condition of the Temporary Foreign Worker program, end employer-specific work permits, establish a council to reduce Canadas over-reliance on foreign workers and provide a path to permanent residence.

In Ontario, many of UFCWs issues stem from the Agricultural Employees Protection Act. Escobar said the act limits offshore workers ability to unionize under a collective agreement and can force them into precarious work environments by allowing them to agree to extended work hours.

I think its fair to acknowledge agri-food workers are front-line workers, Escobar said. These workers deserve to able to exercise their labour rights, not only because its the human thing to do, but also to maintain the food supply.

UFCW estimates temporary foreign workers make up half of Canadas agriculture workforce. Some 20,000 migrant workers come to Ontario each year, with many in Southwestern Ontarios rich farm belt.

In Windsor-Essex alone, which has seen the bulk of the regions farmgate COVID-19 outbreaks, there are about 8,000 temporary foreign workers. The UFCW said there are likely another 3,000 undocumented agri-food workers in the area.

The advocacy group Justice for Migrant Workers reports 1,370 farm workers have contracted the novel coronavirus in Ontario.

Three workers have died after contracting COVID-19, two in Windsor-Essex and one in Norfolk County.

Escobar said lack of protections for migrant workers and their limited avenues to file work-related grievances likely have exacerbated the pandemics impact on the farm belt.

The UFCW runs a hotline for migrant workers. During a typical season, theyd get about 10 calls a day. Since the pandemic began, theyre averaging more than 35 to 40 calls a day.

Escobar said theyve had complaints of workers not being appropriately paid during their mandatory 14-day self-isolation or having a general lack of knowledge about COVID-19.

Still, he acknowledged that he feels the situation on farms has improved in recent weeks. He was visiting farms in Leamington last week and said all workers had access to proper personal protective equipment (PPE) and were following safety guidelines.

The UFCW report comes as Southwestern Ontario gears up for its harvest season, when temporary foreign workers will be even more essential. This spring, delays in migrant workers arriving in the province wreaked havoc on some farms during planting season.

Despite best efforts, there have been COVID-19 outbreaks on some Canadians farms that have significantly impacted the health and safety of workers, Marielle Hossack, a spokesperson for federal Employment Minister Carla Qualtrough, said in response to the report.

COVID-19 has brought to the forefront issues within the Temporary Foreign Worker program that need to be addressed for the health and well-being of everyone involved.

Since the pandemics start, the Government of Canada has invested $58.6 million to increase temporary foreign workers safety. This has included supports and outreach for migrant workers, strengthening the on-farm inspection process, providing PPE and improving living quarters.

Foreign workers who are laid off, have become ill or have to quarantine due to COVID-19 are now eligible for Employment Insurance.

As of June 2019, foreign workers with an employer-specific work permit can apply for an open work permit if they are mistreated by their current employer.

In response to outbreaks in Windsor-Essex, Ottawa also partnered with the Canadian Red Cross and the province to set up temporary housing for workers required to self-isolate.

Migrant workers are required to be paid during a mandatory 14-day isolation upon their arrival to Canada, and Ontario has extended health-care access to those workers.

Ontario has also launched on-site COVID-19 testing on farms, an online toolkit for farmers, and invested $15 million in the Enhanced Agri-food Workplace Protection program for farms to increase safety measures.

Stopping the virus spread in agri-food workplaces is critical to ensuring worker health and safety is protected and that Ontarios food supply chain remains strong, said a spokesperson for Ontarios Agriculture Ministry.

Twitter.com/MaxatLFPress

max.martin@sunmedia.ca

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'Crisis within a crisis:' Union calls for better migrant-worker protections amid COVID-19 fallout - Brantford Expositor

What a pleasure to have the news agenda still dictated by former drivetime radio presenter Nigel Farage, who resists the suggestion that its time to declare an emergency in his career by announcing: Its time to declare an emergency in the Channel.

Initially it was to be hoped there would be only one wave of Farage before a cure was discovered, but scientists have long accepted that we will simply learn to have to live with him, albeit in slightly diminished form with each outing, until he has finally infected so many layers of our culture that he is effectively spent. Think of it as a turd immunity strategy.

In his current strain, Farage presents as a sort of distress voyeur, hanging about the Dover coastal area with a cameraphone and practising what he imagines to be some kind of haute journalisme by filming the arrival or rescue of any migrant boats he manages to spot. Im afraid police felt obliged to speak to him about his behaviour during lockdown.

Yet compulsively he returns. One can only imagine the quickening in the Farage journalistic loins when, after several hours of fruitless sea perving, he finally spots a small craft full of desperate people coming into his sights. Yes! Ive got a bite! The dog has seen the rabbit! Perhaps Nigel imagines himself to be a sort of lone special forces operative special farces would be more accurate a Mittyish pose that allows him to deploy expressions like oh-five-hundred hours and Ive got eyes on a target. And doubtless various other quasi-military phrases he would have been able to use for real during the second world war that he so pantingly fetishises. Or rather, he would have, had he not been born nearly two decades after it ended, chosen to pursue an extremely indifferent City career in commodities trading instead of military service, and not been given to appearing at far-right German rallies. I dont want to go out on a limb here, but I suspect the latter in particular would have been a bit of a dealbreaker for British military recruiting sergeants in 1939.

So here we are in 2020, with Farage repeatedly talking about invasions and beach landings another reminder of the essential truth about him. Namely, that had he lived at the time of his precious war, he would have been so terrified by the scale of its daily realities and so incapable of keeping calm about any of it, that he would have had to be interned for spreading panic. Invasion is a ridiculous turn of phrase for what is happening in the Channel, designed to do absolutely nothing to address the problem and absolutely everything to whip up frenzy.

Needless to say, Boris Johnsons government is yet another administration so terrified of being outflanked on the right by Farage that they tack towards him. Furthermore, this is Johnsons governments favourite kind of crisis, which is to say it is not one. It involves relatively very small numbers of people, drives vastly bigger numbers of its base mad but in a helpful way and is a useful distraction from any number of real crises that it is failing to deal with. Things like the spectacularly hopeless U-turning on test and trace, or not having a post-transition Brexit deal, or treating a generation of children as an afterthought to the pub trade. These and many other ongoing horror stories are hugely more significant. Exactly how far down the governments list of priorities events in the Channel should currently be is a matter of opinion, but it certainly wouldnt be breaking the top 10 any time soon.

So yes, Johnson himself couldnt be less interested in this sort of thing he couldnt be less interested in anything much at all, really but understands its value as a diversion. Thus yesterday the prime minister took to the airwaves to brand migrant attempts to cross the Channel a very bad and stupid and dangerous and criminal thing to do. When you consider that refugees are in the majority young men sent in desperation by their families, it DOES seem strange that they prefer to get their stupid criminal kicks by doing bad things like making perilous sea crossings. They would surely be much better off donning black tie to smash up an Oxford restaurant.

Bafflingly, this wasnt the line Priti Patel went with yesterday on a visit to Dover. The home secretary is now apparently deemed such an interview risk that her trip was covered by a personal videographer as opposed to news crews. Inevitably, she judges the military and their hardware the answer. RAF planes, Royal Navy ships its very all the gear, no idea, like using a Formula One car to pop down to the shops. Indeed, in this same martial spirit, Patel has issued an ultimatum to France, giving our nearest neighbours the best opportunity to participate in a diversionary conflict since the Franco-Prussian war. A war footing would certainly suit our own Otto von Jizzmark, Dominic Cummings, who seems cut out for pitching into simple enemies like the EU, but stuck on rather bigger tasks like running a government and doing your own childcare even when youre ill. Perhaps you reap what you sow. Or as the PMs official spokesman preferred it yesterday: At the end of this year we will no longer be bound by the EUs laws so can negotiate our own returns agreement. Exciting! Cant imagine how thatll turn out.

This article began with one unflushable, though, and it must play out with another. Who should be on hand with his own take on the Channel crossings but Theresa Mays former longtime chief of staff, Nick Timothy, who declares the system so broken that the time has come to process migrants offshore. This isnt a new idea, naturally Tony Blair once pushed the idea of Ukraine as a safe haven for asylum seekers, indicating his preference for using other countries as locations in which to fight our metaphorical wars as well as our literal ones.

Even so, Timothys unsinkable sense of rectitude does set one dreaming of a Britain where a certain type of political attention seeker could be processed offshore. Instead, he spent barely a summer holiday in the political wilderness after his spectacular tanking of the 2017 Tory election campaign, emerging with a column in the Daily Telegraph, which was initially branded Ways to Win. Talking about broken systems, the one that failed to regard Timothy as even remotely defective for more than five minutes is arguably the most broken of the lot.

Yet on it goes. There will always be a place for him and Farage and all the other guys. We dont seem to do political has-beens in this country, which is intriguing given the sheer scale of clusterfuckery over the past few years. In fact, the one thing you can be absolutely sure of is that all of the people cocking things up now will be on hand for the rest of your lives to offer lucrative advice, misdirection from their mistakes or freelance clifftop video-journalism. We really are a soft-touch country just not in the way they claim.

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Nigel Farage's 'crisis' in the channel is a second wave of nonsense - The Guardian

Asia Pacific, which accounts for a third of the global migrant workforce, is likely to face remittance losses of USD 31.4-54.3 billion due to the coronavirus pandemic, the Asian Development Bank (ADB) said in a report.

The governments need to come up with policy measures to reduce the economic and social fallout arising out of it, the ADB said.

Job losses stemming from COVID-19 are hurting households around the world, but for Asia and the Pacifics 91 million migrant workers a third of the global migrant workforce the impacts will be particularly severe, the ADB said in August 2020 brief on COVID-19 Impact on International Migration, Remittances, and Recipient Households in Developing Asia.

ADB economists estimate that the region faces remittance losses ranging from USD 31.4 billion to USD 54.3 billion. To reduce the economic and social impacts, policy responses are proposed in areas such as social protection, immigration, labour, and health, it said.

In 2019, six of the 10 largest remittance recipients globally were from this region-India, China, the Philippines, Pakistan, Bangladesh, and Vietnam, the Manila-headquartered multi-lateral funding agency said.

The countries likely to face more severe effects from the pandemic-induced decline in remittance inflows are the ones where remittance shares to gross domestic product (GDP) and per capita remittances are high.

These include Tonga, Samoa, and other Pacific countries, with remittances relative to the size of their economies and populations very high.

Central Asian countries such as Georgia, the Kyrgyz Republic, and Tajikistan, sending a large number of seasonal and long-term migrants mainly to the Russian Federation and Europe, will also be hard-hit, along with some of the major migrant origin countries such as Nepal and the Philippines, it added.

Remittances to Asia and the Pacific, amounting to USD 315 billion in 2019, are an important and stable source of income for families back home and help strengthen external financing alongside foreign direct investment and tourism recipients in many developing economies, said the report penned by four ADB economists.

They boost general consumption as well as investment and help sustain government debts by contributing to the foreign currency revenue base, said the economists.

Jobs and worker welfare are severely affected by the pandemic globally but some sectors are hurt more than others such as retail and wholesale trade, hospitality and recreation, manufacturing, and accommodation and food service sectors.

These are the sectors largely in non-essential services with frequent face-to-face interactions and the migrant and informal workers are among those facing the most severe impacts, as they often do not have regular contracts nor strong bargaining power, said the report.

Migrant workers are more vulnerable from layoffs once prolonged lockdowns and production breaks drive companies out of business. Also, uncertainty looms about the timing of full recovery, even as lockdowns are lifted, with concerns about persistent weak demand in some economic sectors.

The wide-scale economic cost of the COVID-19 pandemic is expected to reach between USD 5.8 trillion and USD 8.8 trillion globally, equivalent to 6.4 per cent to 9.7 per cent of global GDP, reflecting the spread of the pandemic to Europe, the United States, and other major economies, said the report.

The ADB said that employment in host economies of Asian migrants is contracting significantly.

The remittance flows to developing Asia is to plunge amid the pandemic as during the first months 2020, remittances began to contract in major migrant source countriesWhile some migrant workers may feel altruistic and send more money to their families in extremely difficult situations, prevailing weak economic forecasts are pointing toward declining remittances.

However, relative increase in remittance inflows is observed in June in selected countries which can be attributed to lifting of lockdowns in destinations that allowed migrants to remit over the counter and introduction of policy measures that incentivise transfer by reducing restrictions and transaction fees, the ADB said.

Citing a study of 10 migrant sending countries in Asia, the ADB said remittance dependent households are at risk of falling into poverty, as it is estimated that a 1 percentage increase in the share to GDP to remittances inflow from overseas is associated with a reduction in poverty gap by 22.6 per cent and poverty severity by 16 per cent.

A study based on microdata from selected economies in South Asia and Southeast Asia suggests that a 10 per cent increase in remittance inflows leads to a 3-4 per cent rise in real GDP per capita, it said.

Recommending policy actions to the host and source countries, ADB economists said governments of host countries of migrants need to ensure that migrant workers have access to social protection, including employment-related support and social assistance, as well as health services.

They should support employers to help retain and hire laid-off workers, including migrant workers.

Such effort contributes to the smooth recovery of the economy by ensuring workforce availability and the reduction of contagion risks, said the report.

Among others, the host and source countries should continue to recognise remittance service providers as one of the essential businesses to allow migrants and families to transact without disruption as remittance money is a lifeline for many poor and vulnerable families left behind.

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Asia-Pacific to bear the brunt of COVID-19 crisis, may see $31.4-54.3 billion remittance losses: ADB - The Financial Express