Today’s world is rife with inequality and injustice — something the recent coronavirus outbreak has simply made plain to see. From the lack of personal protective equipment (PPE) for frontline health care staff, to warehouse employees forced to keep working in unsafe conditions, it is workers on the front lines who are carrying the risk — with employers and governments showing a deplorable lack of concern for their safety. As capitalist states attempt to overcome a virus that threatens us all, we see how ordinary people’s lives are deemed less valuable than those of the better off.

Yet at the same time, we can see that it is workers who are keeping the system moving. Faced with the COVID-19 outbreak, it is workers who care for the elderly and disabled, drive the buses, stack supermarket shelves, and make sure our hospitals are safe and clean. Some may want to confer patronizing titles and medals — in the British case, calling on us to pay tribute to health workers by literally clapping outside our front doors. But genuine appreciation would mean extending our solidarity to workers’ fight for dignity in their workplaces.

This is why we need trade unions — the means by which workers can come together to win what we deserve. This is the case made by the Unite union’s general secretary, Len McCluskey, in his recent book Why You Should be a Trade Unionist. While written before both the COVID-19 outbreak and December’s UK general election, McCluskey’s argument stands strong in this current crisis. It shows how working people can stand up for ourselves despite all that’s being thrown at us — and build an enduring power.