UK unions challenge Johnson’s move to end Covid rules

Bloomberg

UK trade unions are challenging plans by Boris Johnson to end Covid-19 regulations in England, saying the prime minister should put public health first. The Trades Union Congress (TUC), an umbrella group for British unions representing more than 5.5 million people, said that the government should first commit to improving sick pay and supporting people with weakened immune systems and long Covid.
The group warned that introducing charges for Covid tests at a time of rising consumer prices would be “an act of madness.”
Johnson is set to announce an end to England’s rules, a day after the UK’s 95-year-old monarch Queen Elizabeth II tested positive for the virus. The Cabinet is scheduled to meet to sign off on the so-called Living with Covid plan ahead of a statement by the premier to Parliament. A news conference with Johnson was scheduled.
“We are all looking forward to getting on with our
lives,” TUC General Secretary Frances O’Grady said in the statement. “But the prime minister must put the country and public health first.”
The meeting between Johnson and his senior ministers has been delayed and will now take place virtually, according to his spokesman. The Telegraph newspaper reported Chancellor of the Exchequer Rishi Sunak and Health Secretary Sajid Javid are at loggerheads over funding for free Covid testing.
Spokespeople for Sunak and Javid declined to comment on the reports. The TUC demanded that statutory sick pay be continued to be provided from the first day of illness rather than only from the fourth day. The Federation of Small Businesses echoed the concerns, asking the government to expand and extend sick pay rebate for small businesses and to keep access to Covid testing.