The next Labour Government will deliver a new deal that includes:
- Making work pay with a genuine living wage that people can actually live on.
- Banning zero-hours contracts.
- Ending fire and rehire.
- Giving workers basic rights from day one.
- Going further and faster in closing the gender pay gap.
- Making work more family friendly.
- Tackling sexual harassment.
- Ensuring that unions can stand up for their members.
- Boosting collective bargaining, to improve workers’ pay, terms and conditions.
Paddy Lillis – Usdaw General Secretary says: “We welcome Angela’s address to conference today and the recommitment of Labour to a new deal for workers that Usdaw has long-campaigned for. We need to be clear that the roots of the cost of living crisis are in our weak employment rights framework, which robs workers of financial security or certainty and leaves them constantly vulnerable to economic headwinds and changes of circumstance.
“The last 13 years are littered with Tory broken promises on employment rights and economic stagnation. We should never forget that, in the midst of an unprecedented squeeze on living standards, the Tories prioritised attacking the right to strike rather than driving up pay and working conditions. That says everything about who they are and what they believe in.
“It is time for us to build a new type of economy. One where workers are properly recognised, respected and rewarded with the fruits of growth. Where we end insecure work, give working people the financial security they deserve. We urgently need a new deal for workers and that is why we welcome Labour's pledge to enact one in their first one hundred days.
“Labour’s proposals will be transformative. New rights for trade unions to access workplaces and changes to the rules around recognition will help more workers to have a collective voice, defend and improve their pay, rights and conditions of employment. Only Labour will provide the rights and protections our members so desperately need. The Tories have failed to deliver for the last 13 years. Their time is up. We need a change and a general election as soon as possible.”
Notes for editors:
Usdaw (Union of Shop, Distributive and Allied Workers) is the UK's fifth biggest trade union with over 350,000 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