Usdaw has highlighted the failure of the Government to bring forward a long awaited and overdue employment bill to help make work pay and end insecure jobs. The Tories promised the measure in their 2019 manifesto and this promise has been repeated at least 20 times since. Furthermore, it is entirely irresponsible for the Government to announce plans for the introduction of driverless delivery vehicles without any consideration of the impact on workers.
Paddy Lillis – Usdaw General Secretary says: “Today’s King’s Speech confirms that the Government will fail to deliver on their manifesto commitment to bring forward an employment bill that could improve the rights of low-paid key workers. At the same time, they are taking actions to further undermine the job security of working people. Our members cannot afford to watch a completely out of touch Government limp on for the next year. We need a general election now.
“Labour has already pledged to deliver the new deal Usdaw has long campaigned for. Today it is clear that only Labour has the policies and ideas that can put the country back on track and deliver the change our members desperately need in the face of a continuing cost of living crisis.”
The next Labour Government will deliver a new deal that includes:
- Making work pay with a genuine living wage that people can actually live on.
- Banning zero-hours contracts.
- Ending fire and rehire.
- Giving workers basic rights from day one.
- Going further and faster in closing the gender pay gap.
- Making work more family friendly.
- Tackling sexual harassment.
- Ensuring that unions can stand up for their members.
- Boosting collective bargaining, to improve workers’ pay, terms and conditions.
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
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