They will be recruiting staff into membership and asking customers to sign Usdaw’s petition: usd.aw/union4marks

There will be an opportunity for photographs and interviews on Friday 20 September, at 10.15am, outside M&S at 39 High Street, Worcester WR1 2QN. To arrange please contact Usdaw’s media office, contact details below.

Sarah Hughes - Usdaw Area Organiser says: “Now more than ever M&S staff need the support of an independent trade union, as the company goes through a major restructuring that is resulting in significant store closures and job losses across the country.

“All staff in M&S stores were put under threat of redundancy in November 2016 when the company announced a restructuring that would affect around 100 shops over a five year period. At the time they did not say where the axe will fall and so far we’ve seen four waves of closure announcements. This piecemeal approach to reorganising the business is extremely distressing. It is no way to treat staff, we know that many M&S customers agree and we are grateful to Lynn Denham for her support.

“Usdaw has thousands of members working for Marks and Spencer. We again urge M&S management to abandon their long-held resistance to allowing Usdaw to represent the staff. It is simply unjust that the company have made the decision not to engage with a trade union. The staff are telling us they want Usdaw to represent them, it should be their choice.”

Lynn Denham – Labour’s parliamentary candidate for Worcester says: “I am disappointed that many of our big name high street stores are forgetting the vital contribution that staff make to their businesses.  Threats of redundancy, reductions in take home pay and contracted hours are not the way to treat good workers.  Usdaw has the knowledge and experience to stand up for our shop workers.  It is time for better pay and an economy that works 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 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.

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