Joanne Thomas brands Farage a ‘threat to the rights and incomes of workers’

Joanne Thomas – Usdaw general secretary says: “Nigel Farage and Reform have opposed every measure to improve workers’ lives and deliver much-needed change for our members. He must have more neck than a giraffe to suggest that Reform are now the party of workers, when they are in fact a threat to our members’ rights and incomes.

“Only the link between trade unions and the Labour Party could have delivered the historic Employment Rights Act, which is the biggest uplift in workers’ rights in a generation. The Act is very important to workers and, crucially, helps to protect decent employers from being undercut by the worst who exploit workers. 

“Tackling precarious employment is good for the economy, growth and individual workers, who should have the decency of a wage that they can live off. And yet Reform voted against the Employment Rights Act at every opportunity and have vowed to repeal it, and the vital worker protections in the Equality Act 2010, as soon as possible.

“You cannot pretend to be a party of workers while pledging to strip their rights at every turn. Reform simply does not understand the everyday lives of trade unionists, which is why they persistently vote against the best interests of workers. So, we say a resounding NO to Mr Farage’s unwanted advances.”