Unite demands protection for health and care workers

All health and social care workers (HSCWs) must be issued with respiratory protective equipment as the Covid crisis continues, the Unite general union has demanded.

It says more than 2,000 HSCWs have died as a result of the pandemic.

Speaking at an International Workers’ Memorial Day event at the National Covid Memorial Wall in London organised by the medics’ branch, Doctors in Unite, chair Dr Jackie Applebee said: “The tragic loss of so many HSCWs is compounded by the fact that many of these deaths were unnecessary.”

She added: “It is self-evident that airborne infections need special protective equipment.”

Unite national officer Colenzo Jarrett-Thorpe described the situation as “intolerable”.

He said: “Not surprisingly tens of thousands of HSCWs continue to be infected, many are off sick with Covid and an estimated 150,000 others have developed long Covid.”

The annual day of remembrance in April is when workers come together to “remember the dead and fight for the living”.

The Hazards Campaign reports that more than 60,000 workers are estimated to have died last year because of work-related harm, including those who died because of Covid-19.

Its annually updated Whole story report, containing “the real statistics and the real stories behind those statistics”, can be found on its website.

Unite also marked the day with a demand for leading construction clients and principal contactors to ensure all workers on their projects are fully protected by death and injury insurance.