Last week Cllr Mark Townsend, Burnley Council Labour Group Leader, secured overwhelming and cross-party support from Burnley councillors for his motion, urging the online clothes retailer Boohoo to engage with Usdaw. The union is continuing their campaigning in Burnley and Manchester today and tomorrow.
 
Mike Aylward - Usdaw Divisional Officer says: “We are grateful to Julie Cooper for meeting with us and giving her support for our members and all workers at Boohoo. It is a positive step forward that the MP has secured a meeting with the company and we hope that she can encourage Boohoo into seeking a sensible way forward.
 
“It is not acceptable that the company continues to claim to speak on behalf of their employees by saying they have no interest in joining a trade union. A modern ethical trader should allow their staff to speak for themselves directly to Usdaw and as an independent trade union we should be allowed to fully represent our members in the business.
 
“Julie Cooper joins a growing list of organisations who are calling for Boohoo to engage with Usdaw, including Burnley Council, Parliament’s Environmental Audit Committee and the Ethical Trading Initiative.”
 
Julie Cooper, Labour MP for Burnley says: “I am disappointed that Boohoo have so far not engaged with Usdaw in line with the recommendations of my colleagues on the Environmental Audit Committee. I will be meeting with Boohoo as part of my efforts to find a way forward that gives workers the protections that they deserve and allows businesses to continue to thrive.”
 
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 410,000 members. Membership has increased by more than one-third over the last couple of decades. Most Usdaw members work in the retail sector, but the union also has many members in transport, distribution, food manufacturing, chemicals and other trades.
 
Motion to Burnley Council tabled by Cllr Mark Townsend, Labour group leader: “This Council calls on Boohoo, Burnley's largest private sector employer, to respond positively to the recommendation of the parliamentary Environmental Audit Committee report into fashion industry sustainability that they ‘engage with Usdaw as a priority and recognise unions for its workers’.”
 
Ethical Trading Initiative statement: “We are in discussions with Boohoo about membership, the formal approval of which would be taken at an ETI board meeting. While we adopt a process of continuous improvement a key expectation ETI has of its members is an open attitude towards the activities of trade unions, enabling effective representation and ideally for workers to bargain collectively. Any new membership application would be reviewed by ETI’s board to ensure that the company demonstrated such commitment.”
 
House of Commons Environmental Audit Committee - Interim Report on the Fixing fashion: clothing consumption and sustainability: A cross-party MPs’ report into fashion industry sustainability specifically recommended that Boohoo recognises Usdaw as the union for their staff. The House of Commons Environmental Audit Committee said: “We recommend that Boohoo engage with Usdaw as a priority and recognise unions for its workers.” https://publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm201719/cmselect/cmenvaud/1952/1952.pdf
 
A Boohoo worker contacted Usdaw to explain how the company are responding to the union’s ongoing campaign for recognition: “I work for Boohoo and all staff were told that when leaving work at 6pm there would be union reps outside wanting to talk to us. We were then told that we should not speak to anyone and if given any leaflets we are to just put them in the bin. I thought you would like to know what it is they are up to, that no matter what they say to you they don't want a union and will do whatever they can to stop it from happening, even make staff feel like they will lose their jobs over it. Please keep my name out of it, I am only telling you because what they are doing is wrong.”
 
For Usdaw press releases visit: http://www.usdaw.org.uk/news and you can follow us on Twitter @UsdawUnion