Labour Citizenship, Social Inequality and Essential Work

The collective experiences of ‘key workers’ in the Covid‐19 pandemic of 2020–2021 demonstrated a strong correlation between elevated social inequality and weakened labour citizenship in Britain, which has been an important driver of support for the populist right. Key workers experienced greater risk of infection, serious illness and death during the pandemic, but their pay levels were not increased. This triggered pay strikes involving various key worker groups in 2022 and 2023. The UK government responded by curtailing labour rights in key worker sectors. The problem of social inequality and labour citizenship is analysed by comparing the experiences of key workers in the 2020s with those of essential workers in the 1940s, when labour rights were strengthened. The contrast over time demonstrates the lasting legacy of the anti‐labour citizenship turn in UK policy in the 1980s, as well as the effects of public austerity since 2010.