A New Deal For Workers

About the campaign

Our members need a new deal for workers. The cost-of-living crisis has hit working people hard. Across the country, millions have seen their living standards squeezed and their families suffer as wages have failed to keep up with soaring bills and sky-rocketing costs.

At the heart of the cost-of-living crisis is a crisis of employment rights.

Usdaw's 'New Deal for Workers' Campaign emerged in 2020, in response to the incredible work of our members during the pandemic.

The pandemic demonstrated the critical role that many low-paid workers play in our economy and society and exposed the deep unfairness and inequalities at the heart of the labour market.

With more than three in four workers unable to afford to take time off work when ill and 15% having to turn to food banks, we know that workers need a new deal which includes an increase in wages to the real living wage and a guaranteed number of working hours.

The Employment Rights Act

The Employment Rights Act was passed into law in December 2025.

Employment law changes set out in the Act will take place over a two year period, with most changes happening in 2026 and 2027.

This new law will mean:

Statutory sick pay from DAY ONE of absence for all workers
Exploitative zero hours contracts BANNED
Employment protections brought down from two years to six months

The Employment Rights Act happened because of the hard work and campaigning of Usdaw reps and members.

Social media

Use our campaign branding below to support the campaign:

What we've achieved so far

Since April 2024, the National Living Wage has been increased for anyone aged 21 and up. This is a step in the right direction; however, we believe the NLW should be available for ages 18 and above.

Check out our indepth guide to the National Living Wage.

We also believe wages should come in line with the ‘Real Living Wage’, which is set out by the Real Living Wage Foundation.

As of April 2025, the NLW has been increased above £12 for the first time. Usdaw have been campaigning for this as a step towards £15.

Find out more about the Real Living Wage here.

Statutory sick pay has also increased, meaning workers will be able to earn £118.75 per week whilst off sick.

Usdaw's work was integral to the Employment Rights Act becoming law, with our members part of a campaign to email their MP to demand action.

Changes from as early as February 2026 will see increased protection from dismissal for industrial action.

More changes to employment law will come between now and the end of 2027, with changes to sick pay, including the removal of the lower earnings limit, starting in the coming months.

Key campaign actions

Because of a lack of decent employment rights from the previous government, low-paid workers are particularly vulnerable to having their hours, wages or terms and conditions cut and susceptible to short-term economic downturns and headwinds.

Usdaw is calling for a £15 minimum wage for all workers, and an end to the rip-off youth rates.

The Employment Rights Act will bring an end to zero-hour contracts for anyone who wants guaranteed hours, better rights on sick-pay and increased protection for workers' jobs.

However, we will never stop campaigning for improved rights for our members and all workers.

A New Deal For Workers

"The Employment Rights Bill being introduced to Parliament within the first 100 days of government was not just an incredible achievement; it was a line in the sand. A line between the despair brought by 14 years of Tory rule and the hope brought by this Labour Government. We drew that line together.

"Trade unions and the party that we created. And with it, we marked a new beginning for employment rights. New protections at work, a stronger voice at work and, crucially, more security at work."

Joanne Thomas, Usdaw General Secretary

29 September 2025

"The Employment Rights Bill will bring in the right to a contract that guarantees the number of hours you regularly work. We campaigned hard for this, and we are delighted that it is now to become law.

"But as always, the devil is in the detail, and the secondary legislation will decide exactly who benefits from this right. We have no doubt whatsoever about who it should be applied to, because it was written down in black and white in the Plan to Make Work Pay."

Joanne Thomas, Usdaw General Secretary

29 September 2025

"Labour promised it would apply to everyone. We campaigned on that promise,
but now there is a risk of that promise being diluted. The right could be limited to only cover workers who are contracted to a low number of hours, meaning millions miss out and causing unintended consequences.

"Because if this right only covers a select group of workers, who do you think employers will offer the overtime to? They'll offer it to the people who aren't entitled to get it guaranteed in their contract - of course they will - and that means that the people on the lowest-hour contracts, the lowest- paid workers, more likely to be women, more likely to be disabled workers, more likely to be Black workers, will miss out on the hours that they need to live on.

"This wouldn't only undermine the new right; it would actually make some of the most vulnerable workers worse off than they are now."

Joanne Thomas, Usdaw General Secretary

29 September 2025

"We now have that Labour Government. After so many years of being ignored, we finally have a government that will listen to working people.

"A government that will engage with trade unions. A government that promised a new deal for working people, within their first hundred days in office and they have wasted no time in delivering that new deal. In Autumn 2024, on its 97th day in power, this government introduced the Employment Rights Bill. Transformational, ambitious and years in the making. A once in a generation programme of workers' rights. Delivering real change for Usdaw members.”

"The Tories, and Reform, have fought these measures all the way."

Paddy Lillis, former Usdaw General Secretary

06 May 2025

"There are unacceptable delays in employment tribunal hearings, with waiting times of two years or even more. At the centre of each of these is a person who deserves to have their case heard and the proper legal process followed. Long waiting times leave people living in limbo, unable to move on with their lives, and the prospect of those waiting times can put people off taking a case in the first place.

"Giving rogue employers free licence to breach employment rights. The Employment Rights Bill has the potential to transform workers' rights, but those rights must be enforced to be effective. Government commitments to improve the backlog and reduce waiting times are welcome. We are clear that this must not come at the expense of those making a claim. Any return of employment tribunal fees would see justice limited to those that could afford it and it would punish those on low incomes."

Paddy Lillis, former Usdaw General Secretary

05 May 2025