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Usdaw urges MPs to vote against the Prime Minister's withdrawal deal

Date: 03 December 2018 Shopworkers’ trade union Usdaw is urging Members of Parliament to vote against the withdrawal agreement and political declaration on the future relationship between the United Kingdom with the European Union.
The debate on the agreement the Prime Minster has reached with EU leaders starts tomorrow, with the ‘meaningful vote’ on Tuesday 11 December 2018. Usdaw is concerned about a lack of clarity in the deal on the fundamental issues that are important to our members, including: 
  • Workers’ rights not being fully protected once we leave the EU, even during the transition period. After the transition, new EU employment rights set to come into force will not apply in the UK. 
  • The only employment rights commitments for the period after the transition are in the draft non-binding political declaration.  This means that any future government could simply ignore the intentions of this statement - a worrying prospect particularly in light of this Government’s track record of attacking workers’ rights. 
  • The deal does not deliver on the issue of frictionless trade, which will have a negative impact on our economy and risk jobs, as we know from the Government’s own leaked impact assessment.
  • The immediate threat of a hard border between Ireland and Northern Ireland has been averted but there are still serious questions about how the situation will be resolved in the long term.
Paddy Lillis – Usdaw General Secretary says: “Since the outcome of the referendum over two years ago Usdaw has called for a Brexit deal that protects workers’ rights, ensures frictionless trade and maintains the Good Friday Agreement by avoiding a hard border in Ireland. It is now clear that the Prime Minister’s deal does not deliver on those key concerns, so Usdaw is urging MPs to vote against the deal.”

Notes for editors:
 
Usdaw (Union of Shop, Distributive and Allied Workers) is the UK's fifth biggest and the fastest growing trade union with around 430,000 members. Membership has increased by more than 28% over the 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

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The official website of the Union of Shop, Distributive and Allied Workers