Our comrade, who was lying, mortally ill with COVID, in a hospital ICU, has died.It's been a shock on many levels. But now that I am retired and can express myself more freely, if I may
somehow speak out to help put an end to the kind of management abuse that can lead to the illness and death of my former coworkers, I will.
I decided to retire when I realized that my fate was exclusively at the mercy of an inept, whimsical supervisor, who gave me an assignment that could jeopardize my health.She forced me to report to the building where our operations are located, when my work could be performed virtually just as well, and most of our department was working virtually, anyway. People in other departments had contracted the virus at the work site already; several had died. These are not the poor, illiterate, huddled masses yearning to breathe free at some chicken-plucking factory and being abused because they don't know their rights. These are middle managers with college degrees, and they still have to toe a murderous line or face losing their jobs. I was being punished for a minor transgression--more of a mixup--caused by a connectivity problem that I was able to resolve on the spot. In reassigning me,my supervisor did not take my age or underlying conditions into account. She did not listen to those who tried to intercede for me, including the president of our labor union. I had no recourse of appeal; HER supervisors favored her, she was practically bulletproof (the HR Department dictated
that you couldn't refuse an on-site assignment just for fear of getting sick). She finally pulled me out of that risky assignment in her own good time, when she felt that her point, whatever it was, had been made. Towards my retirement date, she assigned me once more to work in person and I had to use my remaining free time
to stay home and avoid the risk of getting sick during my final days on the payroll. During the same time period, she had sent my aforementioned colleague to work on site--he was a union guy and she didn't like him--and he dutifully went. When he arrived,a manager told him his physical presence wasn't needed.He could've filled in virtually. A few days later, he was
dead. It's hard to determine when and where he contracted the virus or whose fault it was; you just look at the timeline and draw your own conclusions.
I feel as though I dodged a major bullet by retiring when I did. Making people report to work when they can do their jobs virtually and when working in person isn't really needed (as it wasn't in my case, or that our deceased coworker) shouldn't be allowed. By law.
Update:The offices at the State Ministry of Circumlocution, where I labored for years until fear of COVID drove me to retire last January, are
fully open. Everyone is now posted on the premises--no more working virtually, from the prophylactic safety of home. The Ministry is a place with
constant walk-in traffic from all levels of society, so even if all Ministry workers get vaccinated, there's that. But, besides wrapping a handful of its key bureaucrats in
clear plastic barriers, the Ministry hasn't set up discernible safety protocols for anyone else. Needless to say,employees are freaking out. I sense panic and confusion
in the voices of former colleagues, whenever they call. The ground has shifted under their feet. Again. There was a time, for about 5 minutes, when we all thought things were about to improve.But now there's a new Covid variant,there's an upsurge in cases, now even the vaccinated are getting sick--and still, on some fronts, health precautions are being rolled back, "celebrations" are being held, as if the virus were retreating instead of advancing. It's a dangerous kind of collective wishful thinking,
it bodes ill. Me,I had planned to look for a little retirement gig,
now I'm not so sure about the safety of working
outside my apartment. I
hope that smart, compassionate administrators and capitalists will let their staff return
to the virtual workplace, at least for the time being.
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