Paddy Lillis – Usdaw General Secretary says: “The last Tory growth plan crashed the economy and this one misses the point. To achieve economic growth we need to increase productivity; a key factor is making work pay and ending insecure employment. That is why we need a new deal for workers and, while the Chancellor mentioned making ‘work worthwhile’, it was only a throwaway line.
 
“At the heart of the cost of living crisis and the Conservatives’ 12 year failure to deliver economic growth is weak employment rights. They have failed to deliver on their promise to ‘build back better’ and are now threatening a bonfire of employment rights that came from the EU. Alongside this they are prioritising attacks on trade unions and the rights of workers to strike for fair pay.
 
“Workers need a government that will make a positive difference to their lives, as they desperately struggle to make ends meet in a cost of living crisis. They need a new deal that gives workers the protections they deserve and promotes the productivity gains that are a crucial ingredient of growth.
 
“Keir Starmer rightly recognises that people are working harder, but standing still; simply surviving, when they should be thriving. Labour will deliver for workers with a commitment to grow the economy and raise living standards for everyone, not just a privileged few. Aiming to defeat the cost of living crisis in the first term of a Labour government and delivering a new deal for working people within the first 100 days.
 
“A new deal that will end low-paid insecure employment, giving workers the dignity of a fair day’s pay for a fair day’s work and security. Keir Starmer offers the hope and change our members need. The time is up for the Tories, we need a general election and a Labour Government to put Britain back on track.”
 
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.
 
Labour’s New Deal for Workers: www.usdaw.org.uk/LaboursNDW
 
For Usdaw press releases visit: http://www.usdaw.org.uk/news and you can follow us on Twitter @UsdawUnion