Five steps to protect jobs


The TUC has detailed five steps that could taken to protect workers’ jobs and livelihoods


The coronavirus pandemic poses huge risks to workers’ health, jobs and livelihoods, of a kind unseen outside wartime. The chancellor has started to announce a package of measures to try to protect jobs and workers. But more is needed, the TUC says. 


At present, too many workers will face tough choices about whether they can afford to follow public health advice, and tough prospects as businesses deal with reduced cash flow and demand. A TUC report sets out what it believes must happen next to ensure that we enable people to follow vital public health advice, protect jobs and livelihoods, and enable our economy to survive this unprecedented disruption.


Unions stand ready to work with government to do everything they can to protect health, jobs, and livelihoods. However, the TUC now believes that government must:


• ensure that business support measures are conditional on support for jobs. This can’t just be a bailout for boardrooms;


• fix the sick pay system to provide better sick pay for all;


• introduce targeted support for parents who need to take time out of work to care for kids;


• provide more help to families — and a stimulus to the economy; and


• bring together a taskforce of unions and employers to help co-ordinate the national effort.


https://www.tuc.org.uk/research-analysis/reports/protecting-workers-jobs-and-livelihoods