POWERS in the Coronavirus Act have been repeatedly abused to justify crackdowns on protest, lawyers and campaigners claimed today as pressure mounted on MPs to repeal the “draconian” legislation.
MPs are set to vote on the six-month renewal of the pandemic legislation tomorrow, one year after it passed in a matter of days with little scrutiny on March 24 2020.
The Act handed sweeping powers to the police, including the power to detain anyone “potentially infectious,” which this week was found to have been misused in every single prosecution.
Our members face serious violence, crumbling workplaces and exposure to dangerous drugs — it is outrageous we still cannot legally use our industrial muscle to fight back and defend ourselves, writes STEVE GILLAN
It is only trade union power at work that will materially improve the lot of working people as a class but without sector-wide collective bargaining and a right to take sympathetic strike action, we are hamstrung in the fight to tilt back the balance of power, argues ADRIAN WEIR


