Paddy Lillis Usdaw General Secretary says: “The 2019 General Election ushered in a nightmare of more chaos and crisis under the Tories. Having suffered years of austerity, working people have since had to cope with a badly managed pandemic, an ongoing cost of living crisis and chaotic Tory economic policy that will impact workers for many years to come.
“Four years ago many of us feared that defeat would keep Labour out of government for at least two terms, but Keir Starmer’s leadership has reconnected Labour with its core purpose and made victory a possibility. Labour now has a real chance of winning and delivering the change our members desperately need. Usdaw is not complacent and we will be working hard for a Labour win.
“Labour’s pledge of a new deal for workers, to make work pay and end insecure employment, will make a real difference to low-paid workers. The short-term fixes that the Tories have offered in the worst cost of living crisis in 50 years have been nothing more that sticking plasters. Working people need a new deal to help them cope with the difficult economic circumstances the country is still in, as prices continue to rise at twice the target rate of inflation.
“Labour’s commitment to tackle retail crime and the abuse of shopworkers is what our members need in a shoplifting epidemic. Labour will deliver: a protection of shopworkers law; 13,000 more neighbourhood police, with guaranteed patrols in town centres; respect orders to ban repeat offenders, and an end to the £200 threshold for investigating and prosecuting shop theft. After 13 years of Tory failure, Labour is clearly offering the change our members need.”
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
www.usdaw.org.uk
The next Labour Government will deliver a new deal that includes:
- Making work pay with a genuine living wage that people can actually live on.
- Banning zero-hours contracts.
- Ending fire and rehire.
- Giving workers basic rights from day one.
- Going further and faster in closing the gender pay gap.
- Making work more family friendly.
- Tackling sexual harassment.
- Ensuring that unions can stand up for their members.
- Boosting collective bargaining, to improve workers’ pay, terms and conditions.
Protection of Workers (Retail and Age-restricted Goods and Services) (Scotland) Act 2021: https://www.legislation.gov.uk/asp/2021/6
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