Democracy and Work

Abstract

As the UK adjusts to life during COVID-19, one of the unexpected features is that it has created a better appreciation of workers in low-skilled, poorly paid and precarious work. For example, the BBC One Panorama programme ‘Lockdown UK’ referred to hospital cleaners and supermarket workers as ‘minimum wage heroes’¹ and food delivery drivers were added to the government’s list of key workers. Yet as Jason Moyer-Lee of the Independent Workers’ Union of Great Britain points out, although these workers are doing essential jobs, they have the least rights and little or no job security.²