The coronavirus crisis demonstrated how much we all owe to all our key workers - healthcare staff, care workers, retail and delivery workers, public transport workers, teachers and support staff, cleaners, energy workers and so many others. But the fact is, many of these workers - an estimated two million - are on the national minimum wage. And many are in insecure work, employed on zero hours contracts with poor terms and conditions. The government can raise the minimum wage. It can use its powers to ban zero hours contracts. And it directly sets the wages of four million key workers in the public sector. It’s time for ministers to act – and give all our key workers the payrise they have earned. Ministers turned up to clap for key workers every Thursday during the lockdown. Now is the time for them to show their support again.

At Greencore Northampton, we make sandwiches and meals for Marks & Spencer. And last month, we became the site of one of the UK’s largest outbreaks of Covid-19. It has been a terrifying time, with over 300 staff testing positive for the virus and many being severely ill. Not only did we have to deal with illness and worry for the health of our loved ones, but for the hundreds forced to isolate, we saw a drastic drop in earnings to just £95 a week and huge financial uncertainty. This is because Greencore initially refused to pay more than the legal minimum of Statutory Sick Pay. After our union spoke up, they put in a temporary increase to 80% pay. But isolation pay goes back to just £95 a week from next month – though we know the pandemic will be with us for way longer than that. £95 a week simply isn’t enough to live on, and it will only make dealing with the outbreak harder as we go into the autumn and a possible second wave. We've all been living with financial hardship for months now in any case, as Greencore also refused to top up the government's 80% furlough pay. Many of us have effectively been paid below the minimum wage for our regular hours for months. We’re caught in the middle between wanting to do the right thing, follow government guidance and protect ourselves and our communities, and the fact that we simply can’t afford not to work. It’s not impossible to solve. Rival firm Greggs have agreed with the union, BFAWU, to pay isolating staff in full. They’ve put this into effect quickly, helping them close down an outbreak in Leeds before it could become severe. It kept their community safe and their staff’s livelihoods secure. If Greggs can do this then Greencore, with their healthy profit level, should be able to. Can you help us demand change from our bosses at Greencore? Through our union we’re demanding fair pay for all staff forced to isolate, now and into the future. Please add your voice by emailing Greencore now. If we can fix this at Greencore, we can also increase the pressure on bosses everywhere to do the decent thing by their staff if Covid-19 hits their workplaces. And we can reduce the number of serious outbreaks so that other workers don’t have to go through what we have.

Barnoldswick is the historic birthplace of the jet engine, many of the Rolls Royce model numbers start with RB (Rolls Barnoldswick) the skills and experience of the workers are priceless. Over the last 2 years the workforce has been reduced by almost 50% and the latest announcement of further job losses could see the site close, with more than 1,000 families on site and in the local supply chain abandoned. Roll Royce contributes £1.1bn to GDP in the region *2018 and the North West Aerospace sector it supports has a GVA £1.7bn. Governments from Germany to Singapore are investing in Aerospace to make sure they thrive in the aviation recovery, the UK Government cannot afford to be asleep at the wheel resulting in this historic wealth creator being lost, they must act now!

Belinda Phipps is CEO of We Are With You- she earns around £140,000 per year. Meanwhile, ex-NHS staff working for We Are With You in Wigan and Leigh stand to lose £150,000 during the course of the NHS Agenda for Change three year pay deal (April 2018- April 2021). We will lose an average of £7,870 each during the course of Wigan Council's contract with We Are With You, with some of us losing out on as much as £10,974. This is simply wrong and across five years, will suck £230,000 out of the local economy whilst We Are With You directs funding towards costly rebrands and its London headquarters. We work hard for We Are With You in Wigan and Leigh to ensure that local people recover from addiction, regaining health, self esteem and becoming fully functioning members of our society. We work in this field because we care and because it's rewarding to support recovery, but we deserve to make a decent living. When we transferred over to We Are With You (formerly known as Addaction) from the NHS, we were promised the NHS rate for the job, but We Are With You have gone back on their word. "Supporting people to overcome drug and alcohol addiction is an incredibly tough job and makes a difference for every single one of us in Wigan. "We Are With You’s employees deserve the pay settlement they were promised when they moved from the NHS to We Are With You". Lisa Nandy, Wigan MP We deserve a decent wage for doing what is an important job for our communities. Please sign the petition to support us. #WeAreNotWithYou #KeepYourPayPromise #BelindaFibs #WeWontPayYou

Manchester University NHS Foundation Trust announced to staff in March 2020 that they believe the current model of provision for reproductive medicine at St. Mary’s Hospital is not sustainable. Commissioners are now carrying out a scoping exercise on the service’s future, and this could result in a recommendation the service is tendered and could be at risk of privatisation. Staff members working for the St Mary’s Reproductive Medicine service provide a vital lifeline to women and families seeking fertility treatment in Greater Manchester. The service also provides specialist care to women with complex medical conditions, cancer, and who are undergoing gender reassignment, which are not accessible elsewhere in the city region or offered by other providers. If privatised, we are concerned that these specialist services could be at risk. Unions are concerned that many other private sector providers have higher treatment charges and inferior services. Furthermore, staff are in many cases paid less than NHS workers in the private healthcare sector, with less annual leave, sick pay and other essential benefits. We cannot allow this vital service to fall into private hands and be run for profit, when its purpose is to serve the public of our city.

Under the government’s Covid-secure rules, employers have to complete a process called a risk assessment. They must list all the ways people could be put at risk when their business is running and what they’ll do to make them safer. The government says medium and larger employers should publish this important document in full on their website, for everyone to see, but fewer than 200 out of tens of thousands of businesses have actually done so. Workers and customers need reassurance. People want to work, but not if it means putting themselves and their loved ones at risk. If big companies are allowed to get away with keeping their risk assessments secret it undermines trust everywhere. If we force every employer to publish, we’ll be able to see and share what is working to keep people safe. And government will be able to crack down on employers that are putting their people at risk. Right now the government aren’t doing anything to make sure companies publish their risk assessments. But it wouldn’t be hard - for example, they already make companies publish gender pay gap information online for example. Business Secretary Alok Sharma needs to update the government’s Covid-secure guidelines to make it illegal for larger employers to keep their risk assessments secret. And they should have to put them on a central government website. This is how we make sure everyone returns to work as safely as possible.

As care workers, we have gone above and beyond during the coronavirus crisis to care for your loved ones. A survey by UNISON North West found that 8 out of 10 of us would not receive our full normal pay if we were ill or had to self-isolate or shield due to COVID-19. As a result, many care workers said they may have to attend work while ill which would drastically increase the risk of spreading infection to vulnerable residents and service-users. As part of UNISON’s Care Workers vs COVID-19 Campaign, we have been calling on local commissioners and care providers to protect our pay when we are absent due to COVID-19. As a result, Salford Council and local NHS partners have introduced the 'Salford Offer' which provides additional funding to local social care providers to protect frontline care workers, service-users and the local community by maintaining the full normal wages for care staff that are absent due to COVID-19. The 'Salford Offer' is the very least that we deserve, yet despite the fact it will cost them nothing, there are a number of care providers in Salford that is refusing the support the 'Salford Offer'. Some of these providers have reported millions of pounds worth of profits over previous years.

Currently, hundreds of hospital cleaners, caterers and security guards working at Aintree University Hospital, Royal Liverpool University Hospital, Liverpool Women’s Hospital and Broadgreen Hospital are employed by private companies. We are employed by private contractors Compass Medirest, ISS and OCS and as a result, we are at a disadvantage compared with NHS employees. Like all of our health service colleagues, we’ve put ourselves at increased risk over the last few months keeping patients safe. We don’t want a medal, we just want to be treated equally with our colleagues who are employed by NHS. We deserve proper pay and working conditions so that we can deliver a high quality service for Liverpool patients. UNISON Liverpool Hospitals Health branch secretary Su Edwards said: “Our members do some of the most vital jobs within our health service. They cook patients’ food, keep the hospital clean and protect patients and staff. “Yet currently, these health service heroes are being treated like second class citizens. There is only one way that companies such as Compass, ISS and OCS can make a profit within the NHS and that’s by cost-cutting. This means that hospital staff employed by private contractors receive lower pay and worse working conditions than colleagues employed directly by the NHS. It is morally wrong. “But it’s not just hospital staff who are getting a raw deal. Compass, ISS and OCS prioritise profit over people- they bid for NHS contracts, then they cut costs and patients pay the price. If we brought these services in-house, we could deliver a higher quality service, with more staff on shift, better hospital food and safer hospitals.”

RMT is stepping up the fight to protect our members jobs and working conditions at Trump's flagship Scottish Turnberry golf operation as the close of the formal consultation looms large. As all the talk is about UK staycations at the moment it is clear as day that these savage cuts at Trump Turnberry are nothing to do with COVID-19 and everything to do with casualising the workforce and kicking away their working conditions to jack up profits. RMT is demanding that the axe to be lifted from above our members heads at Trump Turnberry and we are calling for public and political support for this campaign.

Every summer, temperatures are rising and working in prolonged heat and sun can be dangerous. It can cause a number of health concerns, from dehydration and dizziness to the most serious of illnesses. The Health and Safety Executive say 4,500 people are diagnosed with skin cancer every year as a result of outdoor working. Trade unions want to see the law changed, so that employers and workers know when action must be taken to keep workers cooler and safer. We want to see guidance which asks employers to begin taking steps to reduce temperatures when they get above 24°C and workers feel uncomfortable. This is the World Heath Organisation's recommended maximum temperature for working in comfort. While official guidance exists for a *minimum* working temperature of 16°C, there is no law to guide bosses on what a maximum should be. It's time to protect working people feeling the heat!

PCS members are in dispute over low pay, unequal sick pay entitlement compared to directly employed HMRC staff and job insecurity. All workers deserve the dignity and respect that employment usually provides. But the minimum wage is simply not enough to live on. Statutory sick pay rates are so low and only normally payable from the fourth day of illness, meaning staff routinely work when they are sick as they cannot afford not to. These are dedicated staff whose skills, hard work and enthusiasm are crucial to keeping the UK’s tax offices safe, clean and functioning. In fact, the vital work they do has been recognised by their key worker status during the Covid-19 pandemic. They have continued to work throughout lockdown despite the personal risk to themselves and their families. The PCS union have approached HMRC several times to urge them to meet their members’ just demands but HMRC has declined to do so. Send a message to Jim Harra and show your support.

British Gas (Centrica) are planning to fire their workforce and rehire them on reduced terms and conditions.