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Defend in-work benefits to tackle in-work poverty says Usdaw

Date: 12 September 2016 Shopworkers’ trade union Usdaw has today attacked Conservative plans to penalise low-paid workers by reducing their access to in-work benefits and imposing sanctions on people who are struggling to find the right working hours.
Speaking in Brighton at the annual trade Union Congress, Paddy Lillis – Usdaw Deputy General Secretary said: “In recent years, there has been a relentless assault on benefit claimants. Whether it is politicians trying to demonise people as ‘skivers’ or parts of the media attempting to convince us that somehow claiming benefits is simply a lifestyle choice; there has been a clear strategy to dehumanise those who are reliant on the welfare system.
 
“This strategy has made it far easier for the Conservatives to repeatedly cut welfare entitlements and make life even harder for low-paid workers. During the last parliament, the Government cut nearly £17 billion from the annual welfare budget, taking money from working families who already had to choose between having a meal or paying the gas bill.
 
“Workers hit by below inflationary pay rises are also facing the full impact of disproportionate cuts to the welfare system. The Government is now planning further cuts to in-work benefits through the introduction of the new punitive system of Universal Credit. A system that is already five years behind schedule.
 
“Whilst the Conservatives may have originally claimed that Universal Credit was intended to encourage more people into work, it is now clear that the system is simply designed to deliver even further cuts to the welfare state. You don't have to take my word for it. Iain Duncan Smith, the former Work and Pensions Secretary, has labelled the cuts to Universal Credit as indefensible and admitted that they are designed to deliver the Government's misplaced austerity agenda rather than encourage people into work.
 
“The introduction of in-work conditionality will give employers unchecked power over an employee's finances, where a manager reducing an employee's hours of work will lead to a cut in pay and benefit sanctions.
 
“We need to campaign to defend the welfare state. Whilst it is clear that working people should be able to earn enough to be able to live comfortably, the Government's plan to remove in-work benefits will not solve the problem of in-work poverty.”
 
Notes for editors:
 
Usdaw (Union of Shop, Distributive and Allied Workers) is the UK's fourth biggest and the fastest growing trade union with over 430,000 members. Membership has increased by more than 17% in the last five years and by nearly a third in the last decade. Most Usdaw members work in the retail sector, but the Union also has many members in transport, distribution, food manufacturing, chemicals and other trades.
 
For Usdaw press releases visit: http://www.usdaw.org.uk/news and you can follow us on Twitter @UsdawUnion

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The official website of the Union of Shop, Distributive and Allied Workers