THROUGHOUT the pandemic key workers have been absolutely essential in keeping our country running – treating the sick, keeping the shops stocked and open, the streets clean, the buses and trains moving, our internet connected and making deliveries. 

And trade unions have made a decisive difference in protecting workers, fighting to ensure safety advice and social distancing guidelines are applied, intervening at government level to win programmes like the job retention scheme that, while flawed, have protected millions of households’ incomes. 

There has never been a better moment for our movement to harness our collective strength and deploy it to secure further-reaching, longer-lasting change.