Paddy Lillis – Usdaw General Secretary says: “I am honoured to have been re-elected as Usdaw General Secretary and I will continue to tackle the many challenges ahead for our union. Not least is the cost of living crisis that is having a devastating impact on the lives of our members, who are now struggling to make ends meet with prices skyrocketing and wages struggling to keep up.
“We need to secure a new deal for workers that will end low pay and insecure work. A minimum wage of at least £12 now as a step towards £15 per hour and secure contracts that guarantee hours. It is clear that the Conservatives are not going keep their promise to ‘build back better’, so we have to work to win a Labour Government and get Keir Starmer into number 10, to help get the country back on track.
“The work we have done in my first term puts the union in a strong position to meet the challenges ahead and I’d like to thank our National Executive Council for their ongoing support. We have a fantastic team of workplace reps, activists and staff who do a great job of representing our members and their work is crucial in supporting me in taking Usdaw forward.”
Notes for editors:
Usdaw (Union of Shop, Distributive and Allied Workers) is the UK's fifth biggest trade union with around 360,000 members. Most Usdaw members work in the retail sector, but the union also has many members in transport, distribution, food manufacturing, chemical industry and other trades.
Paddy Lillis has been Usdaw’s General Secretary since 2018 and was Deputy General Secretary for the 14 years before that. He was first appointed to the union’s staff in 1989 as an Area Organiser in the Bristol office and was promoted in 1997 to Divisional Officer in charge of the South Wales and Western division, based in Cardiff. Paddy started as a heavy goods driver for Abbey Meat Packers Ltd in Newtonabbey, County Antrim in 1978 and joined Usdaw the same year.
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