Paddy Lillis – Usdaw General Secretary says: “The Government’s failure to address the crisis in workers’ pay and employment rights is making the ongoing cost of living crisis much worse. Skyrocketing prices, particularly on food items, leave too many workers struggling to make ends meet. Food inflation remains painfully high at 17.3% and, despite the rate of price increases slowing a little, this continues to have a severe impact on low-paid workers struggling to make ends meet.
 
“Short-term support with ongoing cost of living pressures is not enough and the Government needs to deliver lasting solutions with a new deal for workers. A new deal that makes work pay with an immediate increase in the minimum wage to at least £12 per hour for all workers, regardless of age, as a step towards £15. Alongside this, we need an end to insecure employment and one-sided flexibility, through contracts that reflect normal hours of work.
 
“The Government is not offering the change our members need, with Rishi Sunak set to fail on his paltry target of halving inflation by the end of the year. After 13 years of Tory economic failure, it’s time for a General Election. Labour is pledged to deliver a new deal for workers within 100 days of coming into government. Only Labour has the policies and ideas that can put the country back on track.”
 
Notes for editors:
 
Usdaw (Union of Shop, Distributive and Allied Workers) is the UK's fifth biggest trade union with over 350,000 members. Most Usdaw members work in the retail sector, but the union also has many members in transport, distribution, food manufacturing, chemical industry and other trades www.usdaw.org.uk
 
Labour’s New Deal for Workers: www.usdaw.org.uk/LaboursNDW
 
For further information please contact Usdaw’s Media Officer, David Williams on: 0161 249 2469, 07798 696 603 or by e-mail to [email protected]
 
For Usdaw press releases visit: http://www.usdaw.org.uk/news and you can follow us on Twitter @UsdawUnion