Welcoming the Labour Leader to the conference, Paddy Lillis – Usdaw General Secretary said: “We know the importance of returning a Labour Government at the next general election, an election that will hopefully come sooner rather than later. We’re meeting here in Blackpool at a difficult time for Usdaw members. The retail sector is under incredible pressure and ultimately that pressure threatens our members’ job security and the ability to earn a real Living Wage.

“Labour is committed to building a strong economy for the benefit of everyone in our society. It is by working together, as a united Labour Movement that we can ensure there is a Labour Government in power. The only Government that will bring about the real change, the real progress, that we need.”

Addressing delegates, Rt Hon Jeremy Corbyn MP said: “The mission of the next Labour government will be to shift the balance of wealth and power in favour of the many and away from the few. Because workers in the retail sector, in distribution, in warehousing, in food manufacturing and in all the other sectors where this union organises often face the worst job insecurity and the hardest impacts of austerity.

“You are the people who paid the price of the 2008 banking crisis with falling real wages and cuts to public services, while those who caused the crash got off scot-free and have been allowed to hoard an even greater share of the wealth in the years since.

“Millions of workers are struggling to make ends meet, exhausted from doing too many hours or anxious about not having enough. We live in a country where more than 4 million children live in poverty and where 1.6 million food parcels were handed out by food banks in the Trussell Trust network last year.  Yet most people in poverty are actually in work. It couldn’t be clearer that the rules of the game just aren’t working for the overwhelming majority of people.

“So the rules of the game need to change. That begins in the workplace. The first step is to end insecurity at work. No one can feel secure on poverty wages. When you’re constantly on the edge, when you’re stressed about affording rent and food, you’re in no position to assert your rights. So Labour will introduce a £10 per hour real living wage. For the UK’s lowest-paid workers that will mean a pay rise of more than £2,600 a year. Think about how that will change lives.

“Usdaw has been pushing ahead on this issue with your ‘Time For Better Pay’ campaign and I commend you for it. A £10 real living wage would begin to address the appalling gender pay gap we see in too many companies particularly in retail where you commonly find women staffing the shops and men in the boardroom. Labour will ban zero-hours contracts. Every employee deserves to have a guaranteed number of hours each week and we’ll make sure all workers have equal rights from day one. Whether they’re part-time or full time, temporary or permanent, every worker is entitled to sick pay, holiday pay, maternity and paternity rights, and protection from unfair dismissal. If they’re doing the job they’re entitled to the rights.
 
“Labour will reinstate the law giving employers a duty to protect staff from harassment by customers, which I know is very important to shop workers. Any abuse, threats, or physical violence against workers is completely unacceptable. It’s not part of the job.

“Another source of insecurity for workers is what happens when a company is taken over. I can’t imagine how worrying it must be to work for a business that gets bought by Mike Ashley and it’s always the concerns of the workforce that come bottom of the pile. Labour will change that. We’ll amend the takeover code so that the interests of workers and pensioners are protected.

“Make no mistake, Labour is proposing a bold programme to transform our economy and our country, but it’s no more than the situation demands. A radical Labour government working together with empowered trade unions will secure that shift in wealth and power that is so desperately needed.

“By working collectively, democratically, the economy will become a tool in our hands rather than the master of our fate. Workers will have more security and more say over their lives and we will forge a more caring, less stressed society, where everyone is supported. That is what we mean when we say we will rebuild Britain for the many, not the few.”

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 420,000 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.
 
For Usdaw press releases visit: http://www.usdaw.org.uk/news and you can follow us on Twitter @UsdawUnion