Paddy Lillis – Usdaw General Secretary says: “It is absolutely incredible to see a Chancellor make a joke about ‘a little turbulence’ after he caused utter chaos on the financial markets, added to the cost of living crisis and sent interest rates spiraling. His deeply damaging and misguided policies will make life much worse for low and middle income workers and now the Government is unable to guarantee that benefits will increase in line with inflation or that public services will be protected. His gross errors of judgement are unfairly going to be paid for by the poorest in society. So it was both insulting and deluded that he claimed his ‘government will always be on the side of those who need help the most’.
“The Chancellor has in the past talked about a ‘high wage economy’ without committing to a much needed and long overdue new deal for workers. Today it didn’t even get a mention in his keynote speech to Conservative conference. At the heart of the cost of living crisis and the Conservatives’ 12 year failure to deliver economic growth are weak employment rights. Our members needed to hear the Chancellor commit to implementing their promised employment bill, which could help give workers the protections they deserve and need.
“Instead he repeated the Tory ideological attack on trade unions rather than focusing on the chaos he, and the Conservative Government, have created. Regrettably the Chancellor showed today that he is out of touch with the very real concerns of working people struggling to make ends meet. Again, he has demonstrated we have the wrong Government with the wrong priorities.”
Usdaw’s New Deal for Workers calls for:
- Minimum wage of at least £12 per hour as a step towards £15 for all workers, ending rip-off youth rates.
- Minimum contract of 16 hours per week, for everyone who wants it, that reflects normal hours worked and a ban on zero-hour contracts.
- Better sick pay for all workers, from day one, at average earnings.
- Protection at work, respect for shopworkers, abuse is not a part of the job.
- Proper social security system, Universal Credit does not provide an effective safety net.
- Job security, with day one employment rights for unfair dismissal and significant improvements to redundancy protections.
- Fair treatment and equality for all workers, including equal pay.
- Voice at work, stop rogue employers refusing to engage with trade unions and end ‘fire and rehire’.
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.
For Usdaw press releases visit: http://www.usdaw.org.uk/news and you can follow us on Twitter
@UsdawUnion