Key workers should not have to be martyrs who risk their lives - Bill Adams

And yet for every care worker or nurse who lacks protective equipment, and for every bus driver or supermarket worker who can’t keep six feet apart from customers or colleagues, risking their life everyday is exactly what they are having to do.

Today the trade union movement marks International Workers’ Memorial Day and remember those who have lost their lives at work, or from work-related injury and diseases. We renew our efforts to organise collectively to prevent more deaths, injuries and disease as a result of work.

We will be marking a minute’s silence at 11am to remember every worker who has died from the disease.

I have lain wreaths, and spoken eulogies at many of these memorials over the years. As trade unionists, we always take the time to reflect that most people who die at work don’t die of mystery ailments, or in tragic accidents. They die because an employer decided their safety just wasn’t that important a priority. This year, more than any other year, we must remember this.

So I want to speak directly to every employer across our region when I say this, loud and clear: failing to provide adequate PPE to your staff, or keeping your business open in unsafe conditions, means you have decided that their safety is not important enough to you.

I recognise that many employers are hospitals or care providers, which means the blame must lie squarely with the Government.

It is clear that staff on the frontline in fighting Covid-19 are facing a crisis within a crisis. Severe shortages of Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) mean many are without even basic protection against infection. Left with protective equipment that is inadequate, out of date or non-existent, many frontline workers are having to risk their own life to save others. Some people have been warned not to speak out in public about shortages or unsafe conditions.

It is the people who will care for our loved ones if they get sick – saving their lives and holding their hands while they are dying – who are most in danger due to their regular and close contact with patients. Yet they are being exposed to unreasonable and unnecessary risk.

This Thursday millions of people across the country will again come together to applaud those on the front line in the fight against Covid-19.

In a welcome shift, recognition has been extended to include not only those directly caring for our sick and elderly, but all key workers providing essential services.

People joining in with #clapforkeyworkers are clapping for NHS and social care workers, cleaners, teachers, drivers, posties, refuse collectors – and all the other key workers who are keeping our country going while we’re in lockdown.

In the midst of a crisis that is teaching us the difference between what we need and what we can manage without, it is significant that people are overcoming lockdown-enforced isolation to share appreciation for the people we rely on for our most basic and vital needs.

But the sudden outpouring of gratitude is also striking because it highlights just how much we under-value these same people in normal times.

Many of the people we rely on most – social care workers, cleaners, retail staff – are among the lowest paid and least secure workers in the country.

Since 2010, the public sector workers we now rightly herald as heroes have seen their work devalued, their working conditions eroded and their real terms pay repeatedly cut. Our applause will ring hollow unless it serves as a reminder that key workers deserve a lot more.

Our key worker heroes should not have to be martyrs. That’s why, at the same time as clapping our heroes, the TUC is calling for real action on PPE, including:

Full transparency on the Government’s plans for scaling up and distributing PPE;

Use of UK manufacturers to urgently increase supply;

Clear systems for employers to report shortages and shortfalls;

A guarantee that no member of staff will be put under pressure to perform tasks without adequate protective equipment.

We know the value of our key workers. We cannot go back to the way things were. They are all heroes and we need a society that values and understands their commitment and importance.

We will remember the dead today. And we’ll fight like hell for the living.

Bill Adams is TUC Regional Secretary for Yorkshire and the Humber region.

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