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Government’s cost of living payment is only a sticking plaster says Usdaw, we need a new deal for workers

Retail trade union Usdaw has renewed their call for a new deal for workers and branded the Government’s cost of living payment as only a sticking plaster as rising prices continue to devalue wages.

06 February 2024

0 min read

Eligible households are set to receive £299 between February 6 and 22, it is the final payment of three.

Paddy Lillis – Usdaw General Secretary says: “While any financial help for struggling families is welcome, these one-off payments are only sticking plasters when lasting solutions are needed. At the heart of the cost of living emergency is a crisis of employment rights that leaves workers particularly vulnerable.]

“The Government’s ‘job done’ attitude on inflation shows a level of complacency that leaves too many families still facing eye-watering price increases on everyday essentials. Food inflation remains double the headline rate at 8%, which has a severe impact on low-paid workers struggling to make ends meet.

“Our members need lasting solutions with a new deal for workers. Only Labour is pledged to deliver the new deal Usdaw has long campaigned for. Only Labour has the policies and ideas that can put the country back on track.”

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.

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