The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge have pledged to make supporting the mental health of frontline workers battling coronavirus their "top priority" in the months ahead.

Three London Ambulance Service staff were today revealed to have died with coronavirus.

Dominic Raab says a total of 69 NHS workers have died during the coronavirus pandemic amid claims the true toll is much higher.

Infection rates among NHS workers tested for Covid-19 were no higher for those treating patients face-to-face than for staff in non-clinical roles, a new study has found.

All essential workers are to be able to get coronavirus tests if they need them due to increased screening capacity, health secretary Matt Hancock announced today.

Millions of key workers and their households are now eligible for coronavirus tests as the Government races to meet its 100,000 daily target by the end of next week.

The Government have said it is working on the infrastructure for "large-scale" contact tracing as a key strategy for lifting the coronavirus lockdown.

The Government's new portal for arranging coronavirus tests has sparked confusion today, following a message suggesting home tests had run out by 9am.

The famous brick towers of the Croydon Ikea will light up in blue to show appreciation for NHS workers looking after the UK's coronavirus patients.

UK businesses have furloughed 3.8 million workers during the coronavirus lockdown, Downing Street has said.

The army is being deployed across the UK to begin testing essential workers and vulnerable people for coronavirus.

The Royal Mint is set to manufacture nearly two million medical visors to help protect NHS staff from the coronavirus across England and Wales.

Teething problems continue to blight the Government's new online coronavirus test-booking platform, with home kits again running out by 9am.

Retailer also doubles staff discounts and commits to guaranteeing time off for employees over Christmas period

Inmates at eight UK prisons will reportedly start making personal protective equipment (PPE) at a third of the market cost for NHS staff battling the coronavirus pandemic.

At least 82 NHS workers and 16 social care staff have died after contracting coronavirus, Health Secretary Matt Hancock has confirmed.

Residents in a small English village have put up scarecrows in their gardens to show support for key workers during the coronavirus pandemic.

Britain will today fall silent in tribute to the frontline workers who have died amid the coronavirus crisis.

This is the moment a firefighter's star-spangled tribute entertained health workers outside a Manhattan hospital.

The UK will fall silent on Tuesday in tribute to key workers who have died during the coronavirus pandemic.

More than 24,000 coronavirus patients have died, new figures show, as the nation paid tribute to frontline workers who lost their lives during the pandemic.

Dominic Raab has paid tribute to the frontline health and care workers who have given their lives to fighting coronavirus, as he confirmed more than 108 such deaths so far.

More than 1,800 people are set to lose their jobs at Oasis, Warehouse and two other brands, after administrators were unable to find a buyer for the business.

British Airways is set to make up to 12,000 workers redundant, its parent company has said.

A Walmart store has been temporarily shut down after 23 staff members tested positive for coronavirus after an inspection by local public health officials.

More than 1,000 British Airways pilots are set to lose their jobs as part of major redundancy plans announced by the airline, it is reported.

Postboxes have been painted blue to thank NHS workers for their efforts during the crisis.

Ships on the River Thames joined hundreds of vessels worldwide to sound their horns for 1.2 million "unsung heroes" stuck at sea during the coronavirus travel restrictions.

Care home workers say employers are playing "Russian roulette" with their lives as personal protective equipment (PPE) is withheld or rationed amid unclear guidance, according to a union.

Nike has donated tens of thousands of trainers to frontline healthcare workers fighting the pandemic around the world.

Nearly a quarter of employees in Britain have been furloughed in just two weeks, officials have said.

Key workers in the frontline battle against coronavirus should be paid a real living wage, the Archbishop of York has told the Lords.

The mundanity of coronavirus lockdown life is being celebrated in a photography exhibition to raise money for frontline workers.

Drug dealers are adopting new disguises so they can move around freeley during the coronavirus lockdown, a gang expert has said.

Heartless thieves have stolen 80,000 face masks from a Manchester warehouse which were meant to be used by NHS and frontline workers fighting coronavirus.

Workers at Amazon, Target and other companies walked off the job on Friday to demand safer working conditions and transparency about how many front-line workers have gotten sick during the pandemic.

Consumers are starting to see meat shortages after thousands of workers fall ill.

Myan Mode, a garment factory on the outskirts of Yangon, Myanmar, produces men's jackets, women's blazers and coats for Western fashion companies like Mango and Zara. Since the start of the coronavirus pandemic, it has seen a decrease in orders from international retailers.That was why it let go almost half of its 1,274 workers in late March, the factory's managing director said in response to protesters who arrived at the factory's doors to denounce the dismissals.Three fired sewing operators, however, said the factory was taking an opportunity to punish workers engaged in union activity. In an interview, the operators -- Maung Moe, Ye Yint and Ohnmar Myint -- said that of the 571 who had been dismissed, 520 had belonged to the factory's union, one of 20 that make up the Federation of Garment Workers Myanmar. About 700 workers who did not belong to the union kept their jobs, they said.Myan Mode's South Korean-based owner did not respond to requests for comment, and did not provide details about the firings.Moe, 27, was the factory union's president and had organized several strikes. Yint, 30, was the union's secretary, while Myint, 34, had been a union member since its founding in June 2018."The bosses used COVID as an opportunity to get rid of us because they hated our union," Moe said. He said he and other union members had been in discussions with the factory managers before the firings, demanding personal protective equipment and that workers be farther apart on the factory floor. "They thought we caused them constant headaches by fighting for our rights and those of our fellow workers."Union-busting -- practices undertaken to prevent or disrupt the formation of trade unions or attempts to expand membership -- has been a serious problem across the fashion supply chain for decades. But with the global spread of COVID-19 placing fresh pressures on the industry, it is a particular issue in South Asia, where about 40 million garment workers have long grappled with poor working conditions and wages."Union-busting is not a COVID-specific issue for the garment industry -- it happens all the time," said Luke Smitham of the sustainability consultancy Kumi Consulting.Zara's parent company, Inditex, which is supplied by Myan Mode, said its code of conduct for manufacturers expressly prohibited any discrimination against worker representatives. The company said in an email that it was "actively following the situation" at Myan Mode, and would "try to achieve the best possible solution for workers."Mango, which has started to reopen its stores in Europe, said in an emailed statement that it "understood the need to ensure that the human rights of factory workers are respected." The company added that it was maintaining "a continuous" dialogue with suppliers.Roughly 2% of garment workers in Myanmar, where the minimum wage is roughly $3.50 a day, and 0.5% of garment workers in Bangladesh belong to a union, according to affiliate data estimates collected by the global trade union IndustriALL. While Cambodia's workforce is more unionized than others in the region -- around 80% -- the unions there are fragmented, meaning successful collective bargaining negotiations can be difficult.Tear gas, water cannons, police brutality and imprisonment were some of the tools used by the governments of Bangladesh, Cambodia, India and Myanmar to punish striking garment workers and union members last year, according to the International Trade Union Confederation, an umbrella group for unions around the world. It noted that many workers in those countries who tried to form a union were dismissed from jobs or blacklisted by factories. And the number of countries that exclude workers from the right to establish or join a trade union increased to 107 in 2019 from 92 in 2018.Andrew Tillett-Saks, a labor organizer in Yangon, said he had seen a surge in unionizing by garment workers in Myanmar over the last 18 months -- and a reaction from factory owners. Before the pandemic, he said, some garment factories with fledgling unions were abruptly closing and firing union members, then reopening weeks later to supply the same brands under a slightly different name with a new group of nonunionized workers.Tillett-Saks said that much of the focus had been on whether brands would pay wages for workers during the pandemic, or for orders that had already been produced. But factory owners "taking this as an opportunity to break down labor movements in the supply chain could be an even bigger issue."Some brands, like H&M, have tried to facilitate union activity in supplier factories by signing ACT, an agreement brokered by IndustriALL and designed to secure fair wages for workers through collective bargaining and building guarantees of labor rights into purchasing agreements. But there are still hurdles. Before the International Labor Organization, a U.N. agency, can take action, allegations of mistreatment must be sent in writing from a national or international trade union organization and then reviewed internally by the agency -- a complicated process even before the pandemic."We have heard allegations of anti-union discrimination in recent weeks," said John Ritchotte, a specialist in social dialogue and labor administration in Asia for the International Labor Organization. "However, it is currently more difficult than usual for us to verify those allegations through our usual procedures because of travel restrictions and local lockdowns."In the weeks since the Myan Mode layoffs, around 15,000 jobs in the textile industry have been lost and about 40 factories closed across Asia, said Khaing Zar Aung, president of Industrial Workers Federation of Myanmar.Moe said the fired Myan Mode workers had protested outside the factory for weeks, watching as daily wage workers entered and scores of exhausted former colleagues left at midnight after overtime shifts. Eventually, management offered severance but not re-employment to the 571 fired workers, plus 49 employees who had walked out in solidarity. All but 79 eventually took the severance pay.The Garment Manufacturers Association in Cambodia said about 60% of its factories -- where union members have also been targeted -- had been severely affected by canceled orders of ready-made garment exports because of the pandemic.On March 31, several dozen union workers at the Superl leatherwear factory on the outskirts of Phnom Penh -- which produces handbags for brands like Michael Kors, Tory Burch and Kate Spade -- were told they were being let go. One was a woman who was six months pregnant.Soy Sros, a factory shop steward and the local president of the Collective Union of Movement of Workers, wrote about the company's actions on Facebook, stating it violated a March 6 appeal from the Cambodian government saying COVID should not be used as a chance to discriminate against union members.Twenty-four hours later, Sros was forced by factory management to take down her post and make a thumbprint on a warning letter accusing her of defamation. On April 2, she was removed from the factory floor by the police and charged with posting fake information on social media. She is now in jail.Superl, which is headquartered in Hong Kong, did not respond to requests for comment, nor did Michael Kors and Tory Burch, who regularly place orders at the factory. Another customer, Tapestry, the owner of Kate Spade, declined to comment.In Myanmar, Moe, Yint and Myint all said they did not regret joining the union despite the difficulties they had faced. They said the loss of jobs was proof that worker representation was needed."I worry for the future of garment workers here without representatives," Myint said, referring to both the firings at Myan Mode and other factories across Asia. "But for now, I worry about providing for my family and getting food on the table."This article originally appeared in The New York Times.(C) 2020 The New York Times Company

The Census Bureau says it plans to continue its relaunch of limited 2020 census operations on May 13, when the next round of workers is set to resume hand-delivering paper forms in rural communities.

John Nichols

The post The Labor Department Is Sacrificing Workers on the Altar of ‘Reopening’ appeared first on The Nation.

Bryce Covert

The post Hit Hard by Covid, Nursing Home Workers Threatened to Strike—and Won appeared first on The Nation.

Less than a third say government is doing enough to help healthcare workers

The poll also found Britons are working 28 hours of overtime per month

The Census Bureau says it plans to continue its relaunch of limited 2020 census operations on May 13, when the next round of workers is set to resume hand-delivering paper forms in rural communities.

"Your support to vulnerable Americans during this crisis is deeply appreciated," said U.S. Consul General Greg Stanford.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau says that an agreement has been reached with all provinces and territories to top up the wages of some essential front-line workers including those in long-term care facilities where COVID-19 has spread among both residents and staff, with deadly impact. This comes as the military deployment to long-term care homes is being expanded.

"You can select a regional test site drive-through appointment or home test kit.