SARAH WOOLLEY has spent the last four months running a trade union from her garden. 

It’s not the way she had envisioned starting her new role as general secretary for the Bakers, Food and Allied Workers union (BFAWU), and tells me it still doesn’t feel quite real.

“It’s been crazy, I mean I don’t feel like our general secretary because I’m working from home,” she tells me over the phone. 

“And as much as I’m doing Zoom meeting after Zoom meeting and all of that background work for the union, it still doesn’t actually feel real.”

Woolley took over the reins from Ronnie Draper in May after his retirement following 33 years in the role. 

She is BFAWU’s first female general secretary — a long overdue step for one of Britain’s oldest trade unions (founded in 1847). 

Although the fresh new face of BFAWU has so far been a virtual one, Woolley’s tireless work and that of the unions’ reps has made a very real difference on the ground. 

The majority of members have worked throughout the coronavirus crisis in food production factories, keeping the nation fed, she tells me. 

During this time BFAWU’s efforts have centred on ensuring employers are keeping their workers safe. 

“Putting in plastic visors and masks, moving tables out, marking the floors, waste systems and all sorts — that’s pretty much been our lives for the past six months, adapting those [health and safety regulations] and making sure they’re in place,” Woolley tells me. 

“Our health and safety reps on site, I have to say, have done an excellent job of making sure that our members are safe.” 

Having reps challenge and put pressure on employers at every step along the way has been vital for workers’ safety especially in the absence of proper guidance from the government, Woolley claims. 

She says the importance of trade unions during this time can be seen by looking at the impact of Covid-19 on recognised and unrecognised workforces, highlighting the scandal at a Greencore factory in Northampton. 

Last month 324 out of 834 workers at the sandwich factory, a supplier to M&S, tested positive for the virus. 

In mid-August the factory was finally forced to close temporarily by the government, after Greencore insisted that the site stay open despite rising cases. 

Although BFAWU has recognition at some units, Woolley believes that had the company recognised the union across its Northampton site and listened to its employees’ concerns, the spread could have been curtailed far earlier. 

“I think one thing that’s come through loud and clear throughout all this is that for those who are working in recognised workplaces, certainly in our industry that has been open all the way through, it has been much safer,” she tells me. 

“I know there has been a small outbreak at Greggs in Leeds but they nipped it in the bud, they closed the site within 24 hours in order to keep Covid positive tests to a minimum and did the right thing. 

“Whereas unrecognised workplaces like Greencore for example … you can just see the difference; 300-plus members tested positive.”

Greater recognition of the value of unions in society is one of the few positives to have come out of the crisis, shown by the thousands of workers who’ve joined in the past six months. 

In May, Unison reported a net increase in its membership of 16,000 since January — 18 per cent higher than the gain during the same period in 2019. 

While the British Medical Association saw 6,000 new members join up — 50 per cent more than expected for that time of year — and NEU saw an unseasonal increase of 20,000 new members. 

“People can see that trade unions do have value, they do make them safer, they do make the workplace safer,” she says. 

Woolley also thinks that workers have rushed to join unions because they are “seen as the only people challenging the government.

“We’re saying we need to extend the furlough scheme, statutory sick pay is not enough, and it’s not happening anywhere else, unfortunately not even the Labour Party are shouting loud enough.”

The Greencore case not only highlights the value of trade unions, Woolley says, but also the desperate need to have a sick pay scheme that’s fit for purpose.

When hundreds of workers were sent home to self-isolate last month, many were tipped into poverty. 

Greencore workers are only eligible to receive £95.85 a week in sick pay — the derisory sum offered by the government’s statutory sick pay (SSP) scheme. 

This has forced some workers to resort to using foodbanks, while families who have multiple members at the factory have seen their household income almost disappear overnight.  

“We’ve always said SSP is not fit for purpose but I think it’s just been highlighted more over the last six months,” Woolley tells me. 

“Hearing people who work for a company that makes £55 million in pure profit talking about how their income has dropped to £240 a week to £95.85 is just horrific. 

“Because how the hell are they supposed to pay the bills, feed themselves, it just made the bad situation even worse.”

The case has partly spurred on BFAWU’s new campaign launched last week to demand the government increase SSP — a motion also being brought to TUC Congress this week. 

The union argues that SSP has not only pushed more workers into poverty but has also undermined the public health effort. 

BFAWU has documented cases where people self-isolating were forced to return to work because they were unable to live on the derisory payment.

The campaign, organised by left-wing think tank Don’t Leave, Organise and supported by the Fire Brigades Union, calls for employers to pay workers’ full wages for the first six weeks before returning to the SSP rate for the following 22 weeks. 

The campaigners argue that the scheme should start on day one and be open to everyone by removing the lower earning threshold which currently blocks 1.8 million people from accessing the scheme, according to the TUC. 

Though Woolley is still coming to terms with her new position, she adds that she feels “very privileged” to head the small but powerful union. 

In recent years, BFAWU has made huge gains in traditionally challenging places to organise such as McDonald’s. 

Under Woolley, who at 33 is also one of the youngest trade union leaders in Britain, I can only see that momentum continue to drive forwards.