Jane Jones - president of Usdaw said: “What a year we’ve had! We all knew the election was coming. We planned our campaigns, we prepared our members, but truly I don't think any of us really believed it was real until we saw Keir standing outside Downing Street. It's been such a long time coming, it feels like a lifetime, but we've done it!
“Those hours of campaigning have paid off. All those doorsteps, all those leaflets and now we're here. With a Labour government, our Labour government. Ready to deliver so much for trade union members. After 14 years of Tory government, working people really do need this change.
“Usdaw members, like so many people in so many industries, have really suffered the consequences of the Tories in government. Too many people work long hours and still don't come home with enough money to feed and house their families. It's a scandal.
“Labour stood on a promise of change and the people of Britain put their trust in us, but the hard work has really only just begun and now we need to make sure we deliver the New Deal for Working People. What we've worked so hard for, can finally be realised: bringing an end to fire and rehire; scrapping exploitative zero-hours contracts that give one-sided flexibility to bosses but not their workers; day-one rights for workers.
“Hard working people can finally have the protection at work they need. Protection that we, as trade union reps and officials, know only too well has been missing from the workplace for too many years. And of course, repealing those vicious anti-union laws that were brought in by the Tories too. Designed to frustrate the work of unions, but now we have change.
“We have a government who asked us, asked working people, how things needed to be improved. They listened and here we are, at Labour Conference with Labour in government, ready to make real tangible change for working people and for all people in this country. Ready to make work pay.”
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
For Usdaw press releases visit: http://www.usdaw.org.uk/news and you can follow us on Twitter/X @UsdawUnion