Addressing a Morning Star fringe meeting at the annual conference of the Trades Union Congress (TUC) in Brighton, Dave McCrossen – Usdaw Deputy General Secretary said: “We are facing a cost of living crisis of terrifying proportions and an economy crashing around us; because of an ideologically driven and incompetent Tory Government. Workers are struggling to put food on the table and yet the Tories are again focussed on coming after our rights to organise and fight for our members. So we stand with every union member taking industrial action.
 
“The way that we are all uniting together to bring about change is a real positive. There is a real appetite for change at the moment, people are sick to death of the exploitation that is going on. The country is falling apart and not because of the unions as the media would claim. It’s not the unions that are causing the queues for the foodbanks, driven by low wages and spiralling cost of living. It’s not the unions making people worry about putting the heating on or whether they’ll lose their home.
 
“We know that the right wing media will criticise us unfairly, they always have and always will. However, people are seeing through their pro-Tory and anti-union positions. That’s why the Morning Star is so important, reporting on the work of trade unions, not just disputes, sharing the very real experiences of our members and providing a voice for working people.
 
“We need to keep increasing the pressure on this discredited Government and to demand a general election to get them out as soon possible. However, if we’re going to truly win a new deal for workers, we have to organise every workplace too. Building our industrial strength and showing the value of being in a union wherever you work.
 
“I also want to highlight the incredible work that union reps do, supporting members in the workplace every single day, and thank them for their tremendous efforts. They are out there organising, getting workers to join the union and become active. I want everyone to play a part in bringing down this Tory Government, because enough is enough and we demand better. We can do that if continue to stay united and elect a Labour Government that will deliver for our members.”
 
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