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Workers at home and abroad will mark Workers’ Day today under a cloud.

The Covid-19 pandemic poses arguably the biggest threat to job security, workers’ physical health and their lives yet. The disease had affected 3,1 million and killed 228 000 people worldwide by yesterday afternoon. Some of the victims are obviously workers.

Because of the infection, many countries are under lockdown as governments take drastic measures to stem its spread. This means businesses have been closed except for a few designated as essential services. Many are unlikely to reopen because of the devastating effect of Covid-19. Those that will be able to re-open once the health crisis has been overcome are seen operating in slow mode for some time. The lockdowns and company closures have resulted in massive job losses worldwide. Incomes and savings have therefore been lost in light of Covid-19.

The International Labour Organisation said on Wednesday that the continued sharp reduction in working hours globally due to the outbreak means that 1, 6 billion workers in the informal economy, or nearly half of the global workforce, stand in “immediate danger of having their livelihoods destroyed.”

Hundreds of millions more in the formal sector have lost their jobs as a result of the disease.

Locally, the worst affected workers are in the tourism and travel industry which has totally shut down. An estimated 40 000 jobs are on the line. While some employees in that sector have been made redundant, others have had their salaries slashed since hotels and lodges are closed and airlines grounded. According to a recent survey by the Confederation of Zimbabwe Industries (CZI), 46 percent of local firms have suffered disruptions in supply chains. Unemployment is likely to increase in the manufacturing sector, CZI warned.

The Employers’ Confederation of Zimbabwe (Emcoz) agrees that the job market has been shaken.

“Some companies may not be able to come back to life when the current extended lockdown is over,” Emcoz president Mr Israel Murefu warned recently.

“This is because many, especially the so-called non-essential businesses, have lost production, markets or consumers, as well as suppliers. The companies have employees sitting at home but have valid contracts of employment and therefore expect to be remunerated even though they have not been rendering any services.”

The Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions is equally worried about the welfare of employees.

Indeed, this year’s Workers’ Day will be like no other. It comes at a time when so many jobs have been lost, when so many jobs have never been more insecure and when the future of the job market has never been so uncertain perhaps since the day was first commemorated in 1886.

While we take note of the jobs that have been lost and those that are insecure, we take this moment to pay tribute to the frontline workers – the nurses, doctors, laboratory technicians, pharmacists, rescue teams and others who are working to contain Covid-19. They are risking their health and lives as individuals; the health and lives of their families as they treat and care for those among us who are infected with coronavirus. Thousands of health workers have themselves been infected and died as a result. In Italy, about 100 had died by April 9. In the UK, more than 100 had died of the disease by Tuesday.

Of the 29 Zimbabweans who have died of the illness in the UK, about 20 worked there as nurses, care workers and medical doctors. Locally, a few healthcare workers may have tested positive for coronavirus.

Our message to all frontline workers is that we appreciate their life-saving work and hope that they would be safe as they treat and take care of Covid-19 patients.

The Government is showing its appreciation for them.

Expressing the Government’s gratitude to the workers recently, Vice President Kembo Mohadi, who also chairs the inter-ministerial ad hoc committee on Covid-19 said:

“Now when it comes to our frontline soldiers, those that are on the frontline in the fight against this pandemic, we need to kit them because there is no point going to war with soldiers without ammunition, so we need to kit you when you are attending these patients.”

Government is paying them a risk allowance. It is, as VP Mohadi said, providing them with personal protective equipment and clothing. Old Mutual has rolled out an insurance cover for local healthcare staff who might contract the infection and lose their lives to it.

Indeed, the job losses and insecurity that Covid-19 has wrought on the globe come to mind as we mark Workers’ Day today.

However, those who are serving on the frontline deserve much praise. In addition to praise, they deserve to be protected against the dangerous adversary that they and every one of us is facing.