TUC general secretary PAUL NOWAK speaks to the Morning Star’s Berny Torre about the increasing frustration the trade union movement feels at a government that promised change, but has been too slow to bring it about

IT’S crunch time for the government. The temporary nature of the measures taken in response to the coronavirus pandemic are now coming up against the reality – that this is a public health crisis that is going to be with us for a long time and is going to create long-running economic problems.
It feels like we’re on the brink of disaster. The short extension to the evictions ban will soon be up. The approaching end to the furlough scheme is one of the biggest concerns. So what’s the government going to do? Will we see a return to 1980s levels of unemployment – because the steps announced so far are just not going to save enough jobs to stave off catastrophe?
No sector of the workforce will be safe from the economic storm coming our way if that’s the case. But it doesn’t have to be.



