Paddy Lillis - Usdaw General Secretary says: “More than 50,000 people have backed our call to end job insecurity and help working people make ends meet. That should make the Government sit up and listen. The initial Government response to the petition was deeply disappointing and woefully inadequate. They failed to engage with the evidence we provided and snubbed the petition, so we now think it is time for the issues to be debated in Parliament and we are exploring how we can achieve that.
“So the campaign continues. Our aim is to persuade MPs to back a £10 an hour minimum wage and more secure contracts, which would boost minimum wage workers’ full-time pay by a much needed £2,640 a year. We need real and urgent improvements to workers’ rights to deliver an economy that works for all working people.”
Usdaw’s ‘Time for Better Pay’ campaign is calling on the Government to strengthen workers’ rights by introducing:
- A minimum wage rate of at least £10 per hour for all workers.
- Minimum contracts of 16 hours per week for everyone who wants one.
- Contracts based on an individual’s normal hours of work.
- An end to zero-hours contracts.
For more information:
www.usdaw.org.uk/T4BP
Usdaw’s survey of over 10,000 working people about their experiences of low pay, short-hours contracts and insecure work shows that stronger employment rights are urgently needed:
- Over the past five years, 92% of those surveyed have seen no improvement in their financial situation.
- Over the past 12 months 76% of low-paid workers have had to rely on unsecured borrowing to pay everyday bills.
- 63% of people believe that financial worries are having an impact on their mental health.
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.
‘Time for better pay’ petition: https://petition.parliament.uk/petitions/234531
For Usdaw press releases visit: http://www.usdaw.org.uk/news and you can follow us on Twitter @
UsdawUnion