Diseases don’t respect borders

In UNITElive’s second instalment of our series in which we ask members what being in the EU has meant to them, we talk to Beverley, a biomedical scientist.

The EU referendum debate has been dominated by big intangibles – phrases like ‘take back control’ and ‘leap in the dark’ have made headlines seemingly every day.

But for Unite rep and biomedical scientist Beverley Wallace, being part of the EU is all about the little things – in fact, so little that they’re microscopic.

It’s not work you hear about often but Beverley and her colleagues spend their days looking at the tiniest bacteria to determine which antibiotics might be needed to fight it. Their role in protecting us all from the scourge of infectious disease is without question.

But Beverley notes that membership in the European Union plays just as important a role in fighting these invisible microbes that can, and often do, kill so many.

Standards

“Our country being in the EU is absolutely critical in our line of work,” she said. “Through cooperation among EU member states, we’re able to identify trends in diseases so we can know early on whether they’re developing a resistance to antibiotics.”

Beverley explained that laboratories in all EU member states will all work to the same standards beginning next January, another important development in fighting disease.

“Say you become ill  you’re on your way to Spain and your admitted to hospital.  Your lab  results could be understood in UK on your return because we’ll all be using the same standards and measurements. It’s because of collaboration that treating disease is much more effective and efficient.”

Many might think that this sort of collaboration could very well still happen if the UK chooses to leave the EU, but Beverley disagrees.

“Collaboration among EU member states happens precisely because we are part of an intentional collective,” she said. “When we are part of the EU, we biomedical scientists can carry out our work safe in the knowledge that what we’re doing isn’t about borders.

“We know we can pass on information freely to each other because each member country specifically works for the betterment of all our welfare together. Diseases, after all, don’t respect borders – we need more collaboration, not less.”

Equal pay

Beverley, who has worked in the NHS for more than two decades, believes that if more people knew about the rights and protections we receive from being part of the EU, much fewer people would want to vote Leave.

“So many of our rights as workers we get from the European Union,” she explained. “Everything from maternity pay to paid holidays and mandatory rest breaks come directly from EU legislation that we’ve adopted.”

“It’s the EU-derived Working Time regulations that stop bosses from working you to death. When the government of the day, like ours is now, believes strongly in letting market forces dictate everything, this legislation is a very important protection for UK workers.”

While most people only have a vague idea about how they benefit personally from the EU, Beverley, who has worked for the NHS for 25 years, knows from first-hand experience how the EU has helped her and others in the health service gain equal pay.

It all started in 1986, when a group of speech and language therapists launched an equal pay case. At the time, the therapists, who were mostly women, were being paid significantly less than clinical psychologists, who were mostly men.

UK courts at the time rejected their claim repeatedly – and it wasn’t until their case was taken to the European Court of Justice several years later that their claim was upheld.

“This decision from Strasbourg was monumental and led directly to Agenda for Change, a new NHS pay system that helps ensure workers are being paid fairly,” Beverley explained. “It weren’t for the EU, we’d still be in a situation where speech and language therapists would be earning £8,000 a year less than clinical psychologists for no discernible reason.”

If we leave, we lose

Working in the NHS, Beverley is behind the scenes in the debate on immigration – EU migrants make up a significant portion of health service staff. In fact, one in every 10 doctors is originally from other countries that make up the European Union.

Right before the UK lifted immigration restrictions on Romania and Bulgaria in 2014, newspapers warned of a sudden and crushing influx of migrants from these two countries, Beverley recalled.

“But the so-called mass flood of Romanian and Bulgarian migrants never happened,” she said.

While Beverley understands the fear instilled by the media that has prompted many people to consider voting Leave, she asks Brexit supporters to think more carefully.

“Membership in the EU has helped us in so many ways — employment rights, consumer protections, and migrants who not only enrich our culture but actually contribute more in taxes than they use in benefits,” she argued. “Look closely at what the EU has given us. Do we really want to give that up? If we leave, we lose.”