The capitalist world came to an abrupt halt in March last year. The global economy shut, borders closed, and countries went into lockdown.
Now, as many countries begin a cautious reopening, the shape of the new world is yet to be defined. But the coronavirus crisis seems like a definitive break, a full stop.
The pandemic perfectly exposes globalisation, and its long, opaque supply chains.
Everything is connected to everything else, but it’s not always clear how, or what we can do to influence the flow of money, power and information.
This is the environment trade unions have operated in since the 1980s attempting to find local solutions to complex global problems, and learning to confront formless, footloose capital through growing international cooperation.
Today most can comfortably perform their white-collar jobs from home, with the space and equipment they need.
Working class people have borne the brunt of the crisis, the health workers and hospital cleaners who have had to go to work without protective equipment.
The supermarket, transport, cleaning, and delivery workers, until recently disparaged as low skilled, have suddenly been recognised as the essential glue that holds our societies together.
Further inequalities have been exposed there are more women than men in dangerous frontline jobs, and more people of colour.
Those who were already vulnerable in this economy have been made more vulnerable.
Unions have responded well, mobilizing their activists and resources to defend working people.
The furlough schemes that provide support for workers are the result of union campaigns, as is the pressure to provide PPE.

Unions have highlighted the essential role played by underpaid workers in key areas of the economy.
By negotiating pay during lockdown, millions of workers have been able to shelter safely, slowing the spread of the virus and saving countless lives.
Unions have also been at the forefront of providing public health advice, and distributing sanitiser, masks, and gloves.
But the initial shape of the post-Covid-19 world is not good, at least if you’re a trade unionist.
It is devastating to confront the carnage of lost jobs, recognizing that each one was supporting a family and a community. But we have to resist the conclusion that this carnage is the inevitable consequence of the coronavirus crisis
After World War Two, Europe lay in ruins.
Money was found to reconstruct the continent, and that rebuilding laid the groundwork for the welfare state that was so successful until it was torn apart by Thatcher neoliberal counter-revolution.
Firstly, employers and right-wing governments are using coronavirus as an excuse to force through changes they would not be able to achieve in normal times.
Secondly, many companies are cynically using the health crisis as an opportunity to lay off workers they wanted to get rid of anyway, while taking bail out money from governments.
Finally, that coronavirus dramatically accelerated processes that were already underway.
We also know that fast fashion is not sustainable. We know that we need to transition from a fossil fuel-based economy to a green economy. We know there is no long-term future in oil or coal.

We are clear that climate change requires a very different economy.
What has been missing so far is political will.
Most governments have been content to take a hands-off approach, hoping that a few gentle nudges will be enough to entice the private sector to invest in transformation
Coronavirus showed that it is possible for governments to act quickly and boldly, to take decisions that will have dramatic consequences.
Tory governments that spent years complaining of empty coffers suddenly found billions to stop the collapse of society.
Millions of workers were placed on furlough, receiving public money, and companies received financial support.
These responses have reignited conversations around Universal Basic Income, the value of essential and frontline workers and many other aspects of the old normal that were taken for granted.
The recovery from Covid-19 must be another moment like this. Governments and companies must find the resources to rebuild a just and green economy.
We need a globally coordinated effort to create a new deal.
We need more than bailouts. We need massive public investment in the future. Our role as trade unionists is to demand this, to argue for it, to promote our policies, and to strike for the future if we must.

Dr. Mahaboob Basha was awarded the British Empire Medal last year for services to the community in Sketty. He is an is active University College Union (UCU) branch member of Swansea University, the Unite Swansea Services and Energy Branch of South West and Mid Wales.