Thread by @OwenJones84

Coronavirus is not just a public health crisis: it is a social crisis.

This thread will share the stories of workers who are being failed by government and business. Where appropriate, please use social media to pressure the businesses in question.

Keeping DMing me your stories

While @pret are getting kudos for giving NHS workers free coffee, their own workforce are having their hours and pay slashed, driving them into hardship.

This @pret worker has a child to feed and is putting their own health at risk. As they note, @pret would not be the successful business it is without their hard work.

This @Specsavers worker tells me the workforce's hours have been cut by half, they can't afford their rents, and they at particular risk of contracting coronavirus. Many stores have no hand sanitisers or breath shields.

Another @Specsavers worker tells me that many stores are trying to shut, but are being prevented from doing so by head office, while workers live in fear of reprisals if they speak out, even as they earn very little.

A worker at another optical chain, @VisionExpress, tells me that the company is pushing a message of "business as usual". Workers have no Personal Protect Equipment, while the customers coming in mostly come from vulnerable demographics.

The husband of a Caffe Nero worker tells me she's been left without wages.

A Capita employee with incurable cancer has been ordered to come back to work.

A @Superdrug worker tells me the company is "putting the lives of staff and public at risk by keeping shops open". She says "my anxiety is terrible right now and I'm scared to go to work!"

An estate agent tells me they're being told to take prospective tenants to viewings, while a "business as usual" approach is being encouraged.

Workers at @CardFacCareers are being made to keep working, including an older woman with asthma because she "fears she won't get a penny if she stops going, and with hardly any rent protections put in place by the government it's too much of a risk."

Workers at Deichmann have no gloves or hand sanitiser, been told they have to work even if they close, with some facing pay cuts.

Workers at @RoyalMail lack protection: gloves have run out and they have no hand sanitiser.

Another @RoyalMail employee points out that a bigger issue is inside sorting offices where workers are working "shoulder to shoulder" without any Personal Protective Equipment or hand sanitiser.

A gym is compelling its workers to keep working and has dismissed the government's wage subsidisation plan as loans that will have to be repaid.

Self-employed construction workers who do 60 hour weeks with £600 a week pay are now expected to live on meagre Universal Credit payments; they have families to feed, rents to pay and equipment to maintain.

Employees at @cineworld face mass redundancies (it would be interesting to know whether the company is accepting the wage subsidisation scheme).

Workers at @Tesco may have a 10% increase in their extremely low pay, but they are labouring under extremely stressful circumstances and lack gloves, masks and handgels.

A self employed painter doesn't think Universal Credit is an option, and fears being able to pay the bills, or his rent in the absence of government assistance. "I'm really worried."

I'm frankly getting bombarded with messages from @specsavers employees, all saying the same things - lack of personal protective equipment, a business as usual approach. This optometrist wants governing optical bodies to declare routine eye tests should cease.

This Caffe Nero worker raises lots of frightening questions: like how many workers are going to afford to look after their families, and who isn't going to be covered by the government's wage subsidy policy.

What on earth are cab drivers going to do? Without emergency government assistance, they are clearly in a huge amount of trouble (and as it is, their health is at particular risk).

Huge amounts of uncertainty for @FromPaperchase workers, who urgently need to clarify if their workers are going to be paid.

You can see why @sainsburys workers are particularly worried about the threat to their health.

This is heartbreaking and infuriating.

What if you're self-employed and in at risk group? Seriously, what is going to happen to people like this?

I cannot emphasise how many @Specsavers workers are getting in touch.

Close. Your. Stores.

Sports are all cancelled, and with it, the jobs of many sports journalists, too.

For those who aren't aware, those classed as "worker" rather than "employee" lack basic rights, and therefore don't qualify for Statutory Sick Pay or indeed the government's wage subsidies.

A friend of mine from back home is a photographer and has had all work cancelled for 3 months; here is a wedding photographer. People are cancelling their weddings and they have no support from the government.