Retail trade union Usdaw will open its 2025 annual conference on Sunday 4 May at the Winter Gardens in Blackpool #Usdaw25

Paddy Lillis – Usdaw General Secretary says: “Our Annual Delegate Meeting is effectively the union’s parliament and provides members with the opportunity to raise their issues of concern and make our policy. We have a packed agenda and it is clear that members are keen to have an influence on Government now that Labour is in power and listening to voices of working people. Our annual conference opens on the 10-month anniversary of Labour winning the general election. After 14 years of Conservative failure and incompetence, we now have a government delivering on the priorities of our members, which Usdaw has long campaigned for. 

“The Employment Rights Bill is historic legislation that will transform workers’ lives, with significant measures to help make work pay and deliver more secure jobs. The Government has also acted by requiring the Low Pay Commission to make the minimum wage a real living wage and eliminate rip-off youth rates, which resulted in record rate increases at the beginning of April. For too long, retail workers have suffered violence, threats and abuse; the Government’s Crime and Policing Bill will tackle the retail crime epidemic, along with bringing additional uniformed police. These commitments all build on Usdaw’s campaigning priorities, ratified at previous Annual Delegate Meetings.

“Last year, we said that the only way to secure real change is to remove the Tories and vote for a Labour Government that is on our side: fighting to deliver the policies, pledges and commitments that will make our members’ lives better. That change is now being delivered by Labour. Our member-led, evidence-based campaigns reflect the issues and concerns members have at work, home and in their communities. This week’s conference plays a key role in setting our policy and the future direction of the union’s campaigning and negotiating agendas.”