Paddy Lillis – Usdaw General Secretary says: “Now is not the time to weaken the protections that low-paid workers rely on. In recent years we have seen employers attempt to avoid paying the National Minimum Wage through classifying customer tips as wages or asking perspective employees to work unpaid ‘trial shifts’.
 
“Companies can avoid ‘technical breaches’ of the minimum wage regulations by paying comfortably above the legal minimum rates. That is a solution that requires no change to the rules. Those businesses that pay on or near minimum pay do put themselves at risk of prosecution.
 
“Where companies offer saving schemes, or similar arrangements for the benefit of employees, Usdaw has previously called on the Government to provide incentives to employers to ensure that low-paid workers do not miss out. So we would like to see changes to achieve that, but this must not become an opportunity to water-down important rights that help protect some of the most vulnerable workers.
 
“We would welcome a meaningful dialogue with the Government to ensure fairness in any changes they propose.”
 
Notes for editors:
 
Usdaw (Union of Shop, Distributive and Allied Workers) is the UK's fifth biggest and the fastest growing trade union with around 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