ask for salary containment with a Rolex

Imagine being one of the 300,000 teachers who participated this Wednesday along with professionals from other critical sectors in the strike and in the protests against the Conservative government Rishi Sunak demanding a higher remuneration for their work, and that the head of Education, Gillian Keeganappears on television to deny it and also call for “salary moderation”, and that he does so with a 10,000-pound Rolex on his left wrist.

The origin of “the devil is in the details” is Anglo-Saxon. Keegan is suffering from it. It is the center of anger among teachers and news in the main media, which mostly accompany detailed information about the characteristics of the watch. And the watch, defends her wearer, was a gift from her husband for her 50th birthday. It is pointed out by those who cannot even afford one for long, who listen in amazement that they should tighten their belts.

This week they came to close totally or partially 85% of public schools, a real problem for the parents of these children, who also demand an immediate solution from their government. The Keegan case, which is still anecdotal, can be extrapolated to the rest of his colleagues. In a context of high inflation and households struggling to make ends meet, the UK has a premier and a council of ministers full of millionaires trained from the best universities.

[Sunak destituye a Nadhim Zahawi, presidente de los ‘tories’, por violar el código de buena conducta]

“Reverse Snobbery”

One of Sunak’s efforts since the second he managed to settle at 10 Downing Street has in fact been to make himself seen with ordinary citizens in their ordinary jobs. His communication team records him talking with them, or distributing food in a shelter for the homeless, taking care to dress in a jersey and not one of his 5,000-euro suits -or 500-euro shoes- that were also discussed when the press scrutinized his personal life or his assets.

Keegan does not come from the economic elite nor did he have it easy. He was born into a working-class family in Liverpool and left school at 16, when he started as an apprentice in a car factory. He ended up in big companies and paid off his debt with his studies by graduating in Business. Because of all this, he believes that the criticism is unfair, that he can wear a Rolex without having to explain himself and that he is the victim of what he calls “reverse snobbery.”

Clock aside, the crisis of the public sector in the United Kingdom is very serious, with salaries frozen for more than a decade and manifestly insufficient in cities like London, where the price of housing, among other needs, suffocates teachers, who in not a few cases they are forced to look for a second job in the hours they used to be free or on weekends.