Minister for Women speaks in support of Usdaw's Parents and Carers campaign

Retail union Usdaw’s Parents and Carers campaign will receive an important boost when Trade and Industry Secretary Patricia Hewitt reveals her vision for improved maternity rights at Labour’s spring conference.

Usdaw has put improved rights for parents and carers at the heart of their negotiating strategy and Patricia Hewitt – who is also Minister for Women - will restate Labour’s commitment to improve basic rights for workers who have parental or caring commitments at an Usdaw sponsored fringe meeting on Saturday.

The union is campaigning for improved maternity rights to stop women being forced back to work sooner than they want after giving birth because they can’t afford to take their full entitlement.

“Hard working families will be at the heart of Labour’s agenda for a third term,” Patricia Hewitt said. “We are committed to increasing paid statutory maternity leave to nine months by 2007 and 12 months by the end of the next Parliament.”

“I understand the need to support workers who have parental responsibilities and it is important that Usdaw is making a real commitment to increasing workplace provision in negotiation with some of Britain’s biggest retailers.” Usdaw General Secretary John Hannett will also speak at the meeting and is delighted that improving basic rights for parents and carers has secured high level support.

“It is great news that Patricia Hewitt is supporting our campaign and that Labour recognise the need for improvements for Usdaw members,” John Hannett said. “We are committed to delivering a third term for Labour so a commitment to supporting our objectives is very welcome.”

“All the evidence from government shows that increasing maternity leave and pay helps increase staff retention and helps motivate working mothers when they return to employment. Supporting working mothers makes sense for our members, their employers and building Britain’s economic growth.”

The meeting will also be addressed by Amanda Butler from wholesale pharmacy distributors Unichem, who have agreed a deal with Usdaw that gives working mothers rights that far exceed the statutory minimum. The new agreement gives Unichem employees at 12 plants across the UK the first 13 weeks of maternity leave at full pay and remaining 13 at two-thirds full pay.

Notes to Editors:

• Rt Hon Patricia Hewitt MP, Secretary of State for Trade and Industry, and Usdaw General Secretary John Hannett will be speaking from 12.30pm on Saturday 12 February 2005 at an Usdaw sponsored fringe meeting in The Sage Conference Centre, Gateshead.

• Contacts for newsdesks: Paul Clarke, Usdaw’s Media Officer, can be contacted on 0161 224 2804 or at paul.clarke@usdaw.org.uk.

• Usdaw is the UK’s fifth largest trade union with over 340,000 members. Most Usdaw members are shopworkers, although the union does have many members in other trades including transport, distribution, call centres, home shopping, food manufacturing, dairy process, chemicals and pharmaceuticals.

• More information and news releases are available at our online Newsroom.

• Journalists can subscribe to receive Usdaw news releases via our online e-news service.

• Visit our Supporting Parents and Carers campaign section for the latest news and updates.

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