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Boots confirms 200 store closures - Usdaw calls on the company to enter into talks

Date: 28 June 2019 Shopworkers’ trade union Usdaw is calling on Walgreens Boots Alliance to enter into talks with the union after the company confirms the closure of around 200 stores by 2021.
The US-based business has made an official statement, alongside the company’s latest financial results, stating that it wants to “reduce [its] store count by 8% in the UK” through a “store optimisation programme” that targets around 200 Boots pharmacies.
 
Daniel Adams - Usdaw National Officer says: “This is clearly very worrying news for the staff in all Boots stores particularly given the company’s earlier denials. Usdaw will be doing all it can to support members during this difficult time. It is only fair that staff are treated with dignity and respect, which is best achieved by giving them a voice through their trade union. We urge the company to engage with Usdaw as the trade union for Boots retail staff to ensure that all avenues to minimise job losses are explored during this critical time.
 
“This issue is not confined to Boots, our high streets are in crisis and we need the Government to adopt a clear and coherent strategy for retail, to address the worries and concerns of shopworkers and our members. Usdaw has developed a retail strategy and we hope it will be a catalyst for a combined and concerted effort to tackle the growing retail crisis and save our shops.”
 
Usdaw’s ‘Save Our Shops’ campaign promotes our industrial strategy for retail, which proposes detailed and evidence led policies, centred on three key areas:
  • Economy and community - changing the economic framework on everything from car parking to rates, rents and reforming the tax system to create a level playing field between online and ‘bricks and mortar’ retailers.
  • People and productivity - improving productivity by addressing low pay and insecure work, while giving staff a say in the future of the business they work for and on the introduction of new technology.
  • Retail jobs are proper jobs - challenging perceptions about retail work and promoting the idea that retail jobs are ‘proper jobs’. Seeking a greater focus from Government on the retail industry and ensuring shopworkers are valued.
Usdaw’s industrial strategy for retail: www.usdaw.org.uk/retailstrategy
 
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 410,000 members. Membership has increased by more than one-third over the last couple of decades. 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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