Proper recognition for key workers needed

he impact of the pandemic has been huge, resulting in a period of immense

uncertainty as so many people remain unsure about their lives in relation to their incomes, their jobs and their futures.

The situation appears to be more positive given the vaccination but it is far from certain how society will fare, both economically and socially. Many are questioning how a ‘new normal’ will look and what needs to change.

According to Brian Eno’s article in the book ‘Everything must change! The world after COVID-19’, as reported in the Observer (January 24), we are witnessing “…the beginnings of a revolutionary acknowledgement of who exactly are the ‘essential workers’ in our society.”

The TUC (Trades Union Congress) analysis of official figures showed that many of the same key workers who have kept Britain going through the pandemic would have been working on Christmas Day and that many of these are on low pay and insecure contracts and that many others on call – like police officers and firefighters – face a pay freeze in 2021.

Therefore the TUC is calling on the Government to:

■ Raise the minimum wage to improve the pay of 2 million key workers

■ Give meaningful pay rises to over 4 million public sector key workers

■ Provide funding to the public sector to give a pay rise to all outsourced key workers, so that they all get at least the real Living Wage

■ Ban zero-hours contracts which particularly affect key workers in health and social care

■ Guarantee all workers the right to meet with a trade union in their workplace so more workers can benefit from collective pay bargaining

Such a campaign is of paramount importance as these demands apply to both public and private sector workers. Given the news that so many more thousands of workers are to lose their jobs following the closure of all Debenhams stores, we need to think about where the wealth resides in this country and how the social inequalities can be allowed to continue.

Are such workers not all key?

MARGERY THOROGOOD Secretary Slough & District Trades Council