Carolyn Cooper | Parable of a woman trapped in lockdown

And it came to pass that the parish of St Catherine was locked down for one week. Lockdown was extended for another week. A housekeeper who lives in the parish called her employer the second week. She wanted to break out and come to work. The employer did not agree. She reminded the housekeeper that she had promised to give her lockdown pay.

The housekeeper does day’s work and Monday and Thursday were her days for that employer. But lockdown struck on a Tuesday, like a thief in the night. She couldn’t be paid in advance. The employer suggested that the housekeeper just hold on for another week and get back pay when she came to work the following Thursday.

She simply couldn’t wait. Money done! She has no bank account, so her employer couldn’t transfer money. And Western Union was not an attractive option. At the best of times, the cramped conditions of most Western Union offices do not allow for breathing space. Much more physical distance of six feet between customers! And the lines to get into the office were unbearably long.

All the same, the employer tried to register online with Western Union to send the money. In good conscience, she did not want to be complicit in breaking lockdown. But the system was not working. She reluctantly agreed to have her housekeeper come to Kingston to collect her pay. She had no other option.

The employer made the mistake of telling the story to one of her friends. She was angrily reprimanded for aiding and abetting her housekeeper to break lockdown. It did not matter that the woman had no money to support herself and her family. Dear Reader, which of these two women did the right thing? The one who rigidly defended the letter of the law, insisting on upholding lockdown? Or the one who showed compassion in rather difficult circumstances? Think on these things!

UTILITIES ALLOWANCE

In response to last week’s column, ‘Household workers dying for lockdown pay’, I got an instructive email from a woman who noted that I had miscalculated the benefits/costs of working from home (WFH). She’s absolutely right.

“Since April, I have been working from home for more days than the previous months and have incurred the following quantifiable increases:

Electricity: My April’s JPS bill has increased by close to $5000 over the previous month. This increase is as a result of constantly running at least one fan (24 hours per day); turning on more light switches and for longer periods; laptop and cell phone being charged more often, and preparing more meals (electric stove).

Phone bill: I am using my cell phone more often, because I do not wish to use my landline, for fear of it becoming public knowledge and subject to abuse. The month of April is the first time in over 15 years that I have exhausted my calling minutes (based on my post-paid plan). Before WFH, I’ve always had roll-over minutes.

NWC: More hand washing and flushing of toilets have resulted in an increase of $1,500 over the previous month”.

Employees working from home should to be given a utilities allowance. Employers are saving costs from not running their offices at full speed. But, perhaps, some employer is going to correct me about underestimating operating costs in these turbulent times.

LIVING ABOVE THEIR MEANS

An economist also emailed to make the point that many Jamaicans are living way above their means. To illustrate his argument, he sent alarming charts from The International Monetary Fund’s “Sixth Review Under the Stand-by Arrangement” for Jamaica, which was published in November 2019.

The captions for the charts graphically confirm that, “Household income growth is weakening, leaving some borrowers vulnerable to debt-servicing risks”. In addition, “Mortgage debt forms the largest portion of household debt, although high interest rates on other loans may put strains on borrowers”. The report warns that, “Household interest spending could jump by 25 per cent if lending rates were to return to their 10-year average”.

It’s not only low-income household workers who are surviving hand to mouth. Many middle-income employees are living on the edge, from pay cheque to pay cheque, with no safety net of savings. Many of them really cannot even afford to employ a household worker. But they do it all the same, juggling all of their financial obligations. It’s quite unlikely that they would be able to pay household workers for an extended period of lockdown, if their own financial situation worsens.

Then there are all those Jamaicans who aren’t lucky enough to be struggling to pay off expensive mortgages. They don’t even have a regular job. They’re hustling every day to survive. They buy toothpaste by the squeeze because they can’t afford to invest in a whole tube. This parable is not just about one woman caught in the St Catherine lockdown. The moral of the story is that all of us are at risk in a society that fails to provide opportunities for all citizens to improve their lives.

- Carolyn Cooper, PhD, is a specialist on culture and development. Email feedback to columns@gleanerjm.com. and karokupa@gmail.com.