PEOPLE’S Assembly national secretary Laura Pidcock joined trade unionists representing front-line workers last night to discuss the impact of the coronavirus emergency on their members.

Ms Pidcock said unions were at the forefront of the fight to get workers proper protection and would need to be at the heart of shaping what “our new society should look like” when we emerge from the pandemic.

GMB regional organiser Helen O’Connor, intensive care nurse and Unison executive member Jac Berry (in a personal capacity) and Communications Workers Union general secretary Dave Ward all raised horror stories reported by their own members having to work without adequate personal protective equipment and being denied the mass testing that experts agree is needed to prevent the spread of the virus, which official statistics said claimed another 881 lives Wednesday-Thursday.