Speaking at the TUC annual conference in Manchester,
Paddy Lillis – Usdaw General Secretary said: “Over the summer, Usdaw conducted a survey of over ten and a half thousand workers, working in retail and associated sectors. We asked them about their experiences of low pay and the impact that insecure work has on their lives.
“This is one of the largest surveys of low-paid workers in recent times and our findings show very clearly the state of Britain’s broken economy; because the Government’s claims of economic growth just don’t stack up, when you see that: 7 in 10 low paid workers are struggling to pay gas and electricity bills; a third have missed or been late with rent and mortgage repayments; 50% of workers have missed meals to pay for essential bills, and close to 1 in 10 have used food banks to feed themselves and their families.
“For many workers, the issue is not just low hourly pay, it’s also that workers aren’t getting the hours they need to make a living. Short-hours contracts are now the norm, with two thirds of workers in retail regularly working hours that aren’t guaranteed in their contract. Workers on short-hours contracts are struggling now, but for many, things are about to get much worse.
“A quarter of the people who responded to our survey currently rely on some form of in-work benefit, but the vast majority haven’t yet been moved onto Universal Credit. When they do migrate on to Universal Credit, people risk being hit with sanctions if they don’t get enough hours.
“For many workers in sectors like retail, regular full-time hours simply aren’t an option. Universal Credit will pile even more pressure onto people who are already struggling to get by, with 60% of workers telling us that financial worries are already having an impact on their mental health, this is a really worrying prospect.
“Our survey data shows beyond any doubt that there is a desperate need for change. We found that people working on secure, better paid contracts are 50% less likely to be claiming welfare payments and over five times less likely to be missing meals in order to pay everyday bills.
“These findings form the basis of Usdaw’s Time for Better Pay campaign. Our campaign is calling for: A minimum rate of £10 per hour for all workers; a minimum contract of at least 16 hours per week for everyone who wants it, and a statutory right to a contract that reflects an individual’s normal hours of work. That would mean an end to zero-hours and short-hours contracts.
“I urge support for our campaign, because it is completely unacceptable that working people and their families are living on the breadline. Our economy is broken. It is not right, in the 21
st Century that there are millions of people in this country, going out to work, doing the jobs that we all need and rely on, who are earning such low pay that their wages have to be subsidised by the state, just so that they can survive.
“It is not right that the worker putting food on the supermarket shelves, is worrying about whether they can put food on the table for their family. Yet we have a Government that doesn’t even accept this is a problem. We cannot stand for it, and we will not stand for it. We need to fix our broken economy. We need to end the scourge of in-work poverty. Now is the time for better pay.”
Notes for editors:
Usdaw (Union of Shop, Distributive and Allied Workers) is the UK's fifth biggest and the fastest growing trade union with over 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.
Time for Better Pay Campaign: https://www.usdaw.org.uk/Campaigns/Time-4-Better-Pay
For Usdaw press releases visit: http://www.usdaw.org.uk/news and you can follow us on Twitter
@UsdawUnion