Joanne Thomas – Usdaw general secretary says: “We meet again in Liverpool with Labour having made great progress on delivering the Employment Rights Bill that will help to make work pay and tackle insecure employment, standing firm against Reform, Lib Dem and Tory attempts to weaken it. After the Government changed the remit of the Low Pay Commission, to take into account the cost of living and end rip-off youth rates, we saw substantial increases to minimum wage rates in April. The Government is tackling retail crime with a standalone offence for attacking a retail worker, along with funding additional uniformed patrols and ending the £200 threshold for prosecuting shoplifters. This is the change our members voted for and this week we will be looking to build on these early transformational achievements.”
Turning to Usdaw’s motion on guaranteed-hours contracts, Joanne Thomas continued: “This week we are looking for reassurance that the Government will deliver in full their manifesto commitment in the Plan to Make Work Pay, to ensure everyone has the right to have a contract that reflects the number of hours they regularly work. We welcome Labour’s commitment to passing the Employment Rights Bill in full and we are seeking to ensure that the subsequent regulations will apply to all workers who want a guaranteed-hours contract.”
Usdaw is calling on the Government to:
• Ensure that the Make Work Pay plan on guaranteed hours is delivered in full, including the right to a contract that reflects the number of hours they regularly work, for all workers up to and including full-time workers.
• Steadfastly reject any amendments that would weaken this right.
• Tackle head on the myths of opposition parties, being clear that secure hours and strong workers’ rights are key to delivering the growth agenda.
• Ensure strong and effective enforcement for guaranteed-hours rights, so that they make a meaningful difference to working people.
On Usdaw’s AI motion, Joanne Thomas concludes: “We need to ensure that workers can benefit from technological developments at a time where the rapid adaptation of AI across the economy is changing the nature of work and damaging job security. That means the introduction of pro-worker AI regulations and upgraded workers’ rights along with a clear and effective strategy to support workers during change. It remains too cheap and easy to make workers redundant in the UK, which encourages bad employers to dismiss rather than retrain their workforce. We welcome Labour’s commitment to gathering further views on strengthening the collective redundancy framework. To deliver job security, this review also needs to include proposals to improve statutory redundancy pay provisions.”
Usdaw is calling on the Government to:
• Work with relevant stakeholders to introduce into law, as quickly as possible, the provisions contained within the Artificial Intelligence (Regulation and Employment Rights) Bill.
• In partnership with trade unions and other stakeholders, urgently review skills provisions within those sectors, such as retail and distribution, which are heavily impacted by AI and workplace technology, and direct Skills England to develop a strong and effective skills strategy.
• Engage with trade unions, through a new Union Learning Fund model, to deliver necessary skills provisions.
• Include improvements to statutory redundancy pay within the forthcoming review of the collective redundancy framework.
Usdaw fringe meeting: 5.15pm, on Monday 29 September in Arena Room Wye, on Workers’ Rights: Labour’s New Deal and Beyond. Speakers: Kate Dearden MP, Employment Minister (invited); Kate Bell, TUC Assistant General Secretary; Joanne Thomas, Usdaw General Secretary; and chaired by Jane Jones, Usdaw President.
Notes for editors:
Usdaw (Union of Shop, Distributive and Allied Workers) is one of the fastest growing unions in the TUC and the UK's fifth biggest trade union with around 360,000 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
Artificial Intelligence (Regulation and Employment Rights) Bill: https://www.tuc.org.uk/research-analysis/reports/artificial-intelligence-regulation-and-employment-rights-bill
Labour’s Plan to Make Work Pay: https://labour.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2024/06/MakeWorkPay.pdf
TUC’s ‘Building a Pro-Worker AI Innovation Strategy’ document: https://www.tuc.org.uk/research-analysis/reports/building-pro-worker-ai-innovation-strategy
For Usdaw press releases visit: www.usdaw.org.uk/news and you can follow us on Bluesky @usdawunion.bsky.social and Twitter/X @UsdawUnion