Shopworkers’ trade union leader John Hannett – Usdaw General Secretary says: “More and more grandparents are juggling looking after grandchildren with going out to work. Nearly two-thirds of all grandparents are regularly looking after grandchildren aged under 16.

“Most grandparents have very few, if any, rights at work when they need time off to care for their grandchildren. The charity Grandparents Plus estimate that nearly two million grandparents have reduced their hours, given up a job, or taken time off to care for a grandchild.

“Lack of support at work means that for many grandparents balancing work and caring for grandchildren is difficult, sometimes impossible. Usdaw thinks grandparents deserve better, please add your support to our campaign by signing up to  our Thunderclap.”

Join Usdaw’s Thunderclap: www.usdaw.org.uk/spcpledge to help win better rights at work for grandparents, in particular the right to have:

• their caring commitments taken into consideration when hours of work are being changed.
• adjustment leave to give working grandparents time to deal with a family crisis without losing their job.
• a period of grandparent leave that can be taken flexibly for instance after the birth of a new baby or when a grandchild is sick.

Notes for editors:

Usdaw (Union of Shop, Distributive and Allied Workers) is the UK's fourth biggest trade union with nearly 430,000 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