A demonstration has been organised by the People’s Assembly to highlight “a dozen years of austerity since the great economic crash. That’s a dozen years of declining wages, rising poverty, increasing homelessness, of draining resources from the NHS and the education system.”
 
Paddy Lillis – Usdaw General Secretary says: “Usdaw and many other trade unions have, over the years, supported People’s Assembly events especially when they have promoted an anti-austerity and anti-Tory agenda. So we again send our support, solidarity and fraternal greetings to all those attending today’s protest, who will joined by activists from Usdaw.
 
“There can be no doubt that our members have suffered from nine years of Tory-led governments imposing politically motivated austerity cuts that have wrecked the public services we rely on, squeezed pay and left many workers struggling to make ends meet.
 
“We now have a Government without a majority, riven by internal party divisions and consumed by Brexit. Their prorogation of Parliament was found to be unlawful and, once we’ve ensured that the UK doesn’t leave the EU without a deal, we need a general election and a new government that will deliver for working people.”
 
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