Usdaw now looks forward to Labour delivering on its manifesto in Government, to bring back economic growth, deliver prosperity and invest in our broken public services. Usdaw stands ready to work with Labour Ministers to deliver the Party’s significant manifesto commitments on issues that the Union has long called for in its ‘New Deal’, ‘Freedom From Fear’ and ‘Save Our Shops’ campaigns, including:
- Making work pay with a new deal for working people that will end poverty pay and tackle insecure employment that holds so many people back.
- Tackling retail crime with a protection of shopworkers’ law, more uniformed police, town centre banning orders for repeat offenders and an end to the £200 threshold for prosecuting shoplifting.
- Transforming our high streets to tackle the retail crisis by reforming business tax, investing in town centres and supporting small independent retailers.
Paddy Lillis, Usdaw General Secretary says: “In 2019, after the worst result in living memory, we could only have dreamt of Labour winning a landslide election victory. Keir Starmer changed Labour to give voters the confidence to support the party, now Labour must change Britain to secure the changes our members and all workers desperately need.
“After years of Tory chaos and attacks on workers’ rights, Labour’s plans to make work pay include transformative policies to turn the minimum wage into a genuine living wage, remove discriminatory age bands and deliver new rights to make work more secure.
“The Tories’ dither and delay on retail crime left thousands of shopworkers needlessly suffering physical and mental injury. We look forward to Labour delivering a much-needed protection of shopworkers’ law; ending the perverse £200 threshold for prosecuting shoplifters, which effectively became an open invitation to retail criminals; and funding more uniformed officers patrolling shopping areas along with town centre banning orders for repeat offenders.
“The scale of the challenge the retail industry faces is huge. With very high numbers of job losses and store closures that are scarring our high streets and communities, there are substantial issues that need to be addressed. Retailers have joined Usdaw in welcoming Labour’s comprehensive plan to help the industry, including action on business rates and support for our struggling high streets.
“Usdaw has campaigned hard for a Labour Government, not just to get rid of the discredited and chaotic Tories, but to turn the country round and get our economy back on track. The election is over, the Labour victory has been achieved, now it is time to get on with the job of delivery.”
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 @UsdawUnion