Joanne Thomas – Usdaw general secretary says: “We join with the Prime Minister in paying tribute to Keir Starmer and welcome that Andy Burnham has today set out how he intends to build on Labour’s achievements during their first two years in Government. His approach of problem solving rather than point scoring will be essential to delivering the change our members need. The focus on growth, particularly addressing the crisis on our high streets, and the cost of living is welcome.
“We look forward to working with Andy Burnham to deliver Labour's New Deal for Working People in full. That must include the right to a guaranteed hours contract for everyone, which is a matter of basic fairness. It is about having an economy with better jobs and higher living standards, where more people have money to spend, giving a much-needed boost to our high streets. Good employers have nothing to fear from these rights, which will help to prevent them from being undercut by employers who exploit workers on insecure contracts.”
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 with around 370,000 members. Most Usdaw members work in the retail sector, but the union also represents many workers in transport, distribution, food manufacturing, chemical industry and other trades www.usdaw.org.uk
For Usdaw press releases visit: www.usdaw.org.uk/news and you can follow us on Bluesky @usdawunion.bsky.social and Twitter/X @UsdawUnion