We use cookies to ensure that we can give you the best user experience. By continuing to use our website you are consenting to their use. Find out more.

What language do you need?

Getting it right for older workers Usdaw launches a new policy document

Date: 22 April 2018 Shopworkers’ trade union Usdaw has today launched a new policy document that focuses on the many challenges facing older workers.
Speaking at the Usdaw Annual Delegate Meeting in Blackpool, Paddy Lillis – Usdaw General Secretary Elect said: “We pay tribute to the contribution older workers make to the UK economy, workforce and the trade union movement. Employers who fail to respond to the needs and aspirations of older workers, do so at their peril. Ignoring this generation comes at a high price. We have identified three key pressures: Money worries; health and performance, and balancing work with caring commitments.
 
“The world of work and the age profile of the workforce have changed beyond recognition over the course of the last half century. With people living longer and the state pension age rising, we can expect the number of older workers to continue to grow.
 
“Usdaw members are working for longer than ever before. For some that is a positive decision, a choice, but for most it is because they simply cannot afford to retire. Over three-quarters of Usdaw members responding to a survey said that they feel worse off now than three years ago.
 
“The Union is continuing to press employers to pay higher hourly rates and make bigger contributions towards their pension schemes, but much more needs to be done. Not only is urgent action needed from employers, but Government must step up to the plate, take the lead and stop undermining the living standards of older workers and start investing in them.
 
“It's a myth that older workers are less productive or more prone to sickness absence. Studies continue to show that ageing is more about change than decline.
The ageing process means that we shed some skills and abilities as we grow older but develop others. Every generation has its own unique strengths and weaknesses.
 
“Challenging stereotypical attitudes goes hand-in-hand with winning a better deal at work for older workers, employers need to address how work in later life is managed.
Members aged 50 plus repeatedly tell us that they are often still expected to do the same work that they did 20 years ago, at the same pace and to the same standard.
 
“Rather than employers adapting workplaces to reflect the workforce is ageing, they are pushing older workers into retirement or putting them through capability procedures, threatening their job security, their health and financial independence.
 
“The third key issue to emerge from our work with reps and members is care. Specifically older members' care of older parents, partners, family members and of course grandchildren. Usdaw's survey found that half of all women aged 50 and above and almost a third of men are looking after a family member and half of all women and just under a quarter of men regularly look after at least one grandchild.
 
“However, we also found that grandparents and carers of adult relatives are struggling to get their caring commitments taken seriously by employers. Managers and colleagues don't always understand. The crucial nature of the care grandparents provide is frequently viewed as unimportant, a voluntary arrangement, something that 'doesn't really count', rather than being acknowledged for what it is - essential. Grandparents are filling the gaps in formal childcare provision. Usdaw believes that it is about time this important contribution should be recognised by the Government, employers and policymakers.
 
“A lot needs to happen to improve the lives of older workers. Building trade union organisation and strengthening employment rights are fundamental to making our workplaces work for older workers. Strengthening the right to request flexible working, making it harder for employers to justify refusing requests, extending the protection of the Equality Act to carers and grandparents, introducing statutory carers' leave.
 
“These are just some of the ways in which UK society could better support and therefore benefit from the skills and experience of older workers.”
 
Notes for editors:
 
Usdaw (Union of Shop, Distributive and Allied Workers) is the UK's fifth biggest and the fastest growing trade union with over 430,000 members. Membership has increased by more than 28% over the 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
 

Share this page

Free prize draw

Enter our free prize draw to win a £100 Love2Shop Gift Voucher courtesy of Usdaw Protect.

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