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There is no Government Sunday trading deal with the SNP - says Usdaw

Date: 08 March 2016 Shopworkers’ trade union leader John Hannett yesterday met Stewart Hosie MP, Deputy Leader of the SNP, and the party’s business spokesperson, Hannah Bardell MP, about the potential impact of the Government’s Sunday trading changes on Scottish retail staff.

John Hannett – Usdaw General Secretary says: “We were given the opportunity to restate our case to the SNP today, the same case we made last year, and they listened to what we had to say. In response they did not identify anything that had changed, since the SNP leadership took such a strong position against the Government before Christmas, and confirmed there is no deal with the Government.

“The SNP were right last year to be concerned about the effects on Scottish shopworkers’ pay and the Government has not resolved those concerns. We now understand thirty SNP MPs realise this and we ask that they vote against the Government’s proposals tomorrow, but it is difficult to understand why the Party should now be considering again their opposition.

“It would be a betrayal of Scottish shopworkers if the SNP do not vote against the Sunday trading changes in the Enterprise Bill. Our members would be left baffled and angry if the SNP allowed a Conservative Government to undermine the livelihoods of shopworkers across the UK.”

Angus Robertson MP, leader of the SNP in Westminster, correctly identified the impact of the Government’s Sunday trading proposals on Scottish shopworkers last November and called for “firm proposals for safeguards and guarantees to ensure shop workers are not left worse-off following any changes to Sunday trading”, and that longer Sunday trading “should not be happening on the back of often low paid shop workers in Scotland and throughout the UK.” Those proposals have not been forthcoming.

Notes for editors:

Usdaw (Union of Shop, Distributive and Allied Workers) is the UK's fourth biggest and the fastest growing trade union with over 440,000 members. Membership has increased by more than 17% in the last five years and by nearly a third in the last decade. Most Usdaw members work in the retail sector, but the Union also has many members in transport, distribution, food manufacturing, chemicals and other trades.

For Usdaw press releases visit: http://www.usdaw.org.uk/news and you can follow us on Twitter @UsdawUnion