Paddy Lillis – Usdaw General Secretary says: “The development and introduction of new technology and automation is a critical challenge in many workplaces. Automation is a particular issue for the major distribution hubs in the Northern region. The resultant job insecurity and retraining need is massive. An estimated nine in ten employees in the UK will need to retrain by 2030.
“Despite this, the Government has scrapped the Union Learning Fund in England and refuses to address the significant failings of the Apprenticeship Levy system. At the same time, it remains too easy and too cheap for employers to make workers redundant.”
Usdaw is calling on Northern TUC to urgently campaign for the immediate implementation of the following provisions to ensure workers can retrain and take advantage of the future world of work:
- Significant and long-term investment in skills funding, including coordination of skills and adult education budgets across regions.
- A fundamental overhaul of the Apprenticeship Levy so that it better serves the needs of workers and can respond to local and regional needs.
- A legal right to paid time off for retraining.
- A right for workers to have a human connection in decisions about them and their job.
- A requirement for employers to consult on new technology, including the use of Equality Impact Assessments which employers must act upon.
- Strengthened collective rights including reducing the thresholds for trade union recognition.
- Strengthening protection against redundancy, including 90 days’ consultation for large scale redundancies and three weeks’ statutory redundancy pay for all workers irrespective of age.
Paddy Lillis concluded: “This isn't just about improving employment rights in the face of new technology, it's about creating a new deal for workers. A deal that offers real investment in skills and training. A deal that provides well paid, high quality and secure employment. A deal that recognises the value of trade unions in the workplace. A deal that promotes trade unions working alongside employers and Government to protect workers and make the future of work fair and just for all.”
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
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