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Usdaw disappointed that the Chancellor makes no mention of the ongoing retail crisis or Universal Credit

Date: 04 September 2019 Shopworkers’ trade union Usdaw is disappointed that the Chancellor’s spending review speech did not address many of the key issues affecting our members’ lives such as the ongoing crisis in retail or the deeply damaging rollout of Universal Credit that leaves so many working people worse off.
Paddy Lillis – Usdaw General Secretary says: “Today the Chancellor had the opportunity to save jobs and protect our local high streets by announcing funding for a government-led clear and coherent strategy for retail to address the growing crisis on our high streets, as we have called for through our ‘Save our Shops’ campaign. The £241 million from the Towns Fund is a small sticking plaster for a crisis that threatens the jobs of hundreds of thousands of shopworkers. He could also have immediately halted the rollout of Universal Credit to fundamentally review and overhaul the system to ensure that working people, who are already struggling to make ends meet, are not made worse off.

“However, he chose not to mention either of these fundamental issues that are of great concern to our members. Their jobs are on the line and their incomes have been squeezed with many low-paid workers suffering directly from austerity measures.  Nothing that he said today provides any evidence to support his claim of ‘turning the page on austerity and beginning a new decade of renewal’.

“The Government is hamstrung by Brexit, distracted by internal battles and only concerned with their own survival. In the meantime working people continue to suffer from austerity and face Brexit uncertainty. Today’s spending review statement was a missed opportunity.”

Usdaw’s ‘Save Our Shops’ campaign promotes the union’s  industrial strategy for retail, which proposes detailed and evidence led policies, centred on three key areas:
  • Economy and community - changing the economic framework on everything from car parking to rates, rents and reforming the tax system to create a level playing field between online and ‘bricks and mortar’ retailers.
  • People and productivity - improving productivity by addressing low pay and insecure work, while giving staff a say in the future of the business they work for and on the introduction of new technology.
  • Retail jobs are real jobs - challenging perceptions about retail work and promoting the fact that retail jobs are real jobs that make a vital contribution to our communities and our economy. Seeking a greater focus from Government on the retail industry and ensuring shopworkers are valued.
Usdaw’s industrial strategy for retail: www.usdaw.org.uk/retailstrategy

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

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