By Paddy Lillis – Usdaw General Secretary
The number of people experiencing destitution in the UK has more than doubled in the last five years. Food banks have become an established fixture of British society, there are now 4.2 million children living in poverty – 600,000 more than when Labour were last in power, and the NHS is on its knees. We know that women, disabled, Black and Minority Ethnic (BME) and LGBT+ people have borne the brunt of many of the Conservatives’ failings since 2010.
Only the Labour Party will stand up and do something about inequality. Labour will: bring about stronger family-friendly leave and pay rights; strengthen the right to request flexible working; tackle workplace harassment; give those with caring responsibilities greater protections; act to close gender, ethnicity and disability pay gaps; deliver a social security system that provides a safety net for all, and boost the power of unions to tackle inequality in the workplace.
Fourteen years of Tory Government has had a devastating impact on the lives of our members and workers’ rights across the economy. The cost of living crisis, savage cuts to public services and rising inequality has left far too many of our members paying the price for failed Tory policies.
The next general election is a not to be missed opportunity to elect a government that will put this right. A government that will put workers before wealth. A Labour Government that will put equality and fairness at the heart of everything it does. Labour is and always has been the party of equality, and only a Labour Government can deliver a fairer and more equal society.
The Labour Party’s commitment to building a fairer, more equal society should be judged not by what they say but by what they have achieved in government throughout history on women’s LGBT+ and race equality. From introducing the National Minimum Wage, tax credits and the Equality Act, to expanding childcare and school places, the last Labour Government gave millions of children and families the best start in life and helped to make work pay. The last Labour Government did more to advance equality than any other in British history.
Not much has thrived under fourteen years of Tory rule. However, inequality has boomed. Stagnating wages, attacks on employment rights, brutal cuts to social security, punitive sanctions and slashed funding for public services have stacked up pressure on workers. Failure to consider the equality impact of their responses to the Coronavirus pandemic and cost of living crisis has further entrenched problems and widened pay and employment gaps with women, Black and disabled workers at the sharp end. The views expressed by Tory politicians have stoked sexist, racist, ableist and LGBT+ phobic narratives online and in the media and emboldened far right groups. This toxic culture has fuelled a rise in hate crime towards marginalised groups, with incidents from 2013 – 2022 rising year on year.
The next Labour Government has committed to undo the damage inflicted by the Tories and create a fair and more equal future for workers. As well as introducing their New Deal for Working People within 100 days, their key equality commitments include: action to close pay gaps; Menopause action plans; a new Race Equality Act; embed the social model of disability; ban conversion therapy and strengthen LGBT+ rights; create a modern childcare system; tackle child poverty; reform social security; tackle workplace sexual harassment and domestic violence; introduce stronger family friendly rights; better rights for carers; strengthen flexible working; put mental health on a par with physical health, and tackle health inequalities.
Over many years the partnership between Usdaw and Labour has delivered real gains for our members. Our link with Labour means that we are able to campaign to help secure a Labour victory and once elected, make the case for policies that will benefit our members and millions of other working people. Maternity, paternity and adoption leave, flexible working, civil partnerships and laws against race discrimination did not come about by chance. These landmark rights exist because unions including Usdaw, made the case for them, explaining how they would impact on members’ lives, setting out the difference they would make; and Labour listened.
Labour has a strong track record of listening to our members. There can be no more effective argument for strengthening existing rights and legislating for new ones than to hear first-hand about the reality of our members lives and their struggle to juggle work and family life, to make ends meet and to be treated with decency and respect at work. We have never sat back and let a Labour Government do our work for us. To deliver for our members we need the industrial strength of unions to build on the floor of rights that a Labour Government provides.
Strong unions in the workplace help our members enforce their legal rights and to improve those rights wherever we can. Labour’s New Deal for Working People will restore the power of collective bargaining and support unions to recruit and organise workers, enabling us to make further gains on behalf of our members. Usdaw has a strong record of improving equality rights through collective bargaining. Our national ‘Supporting Parents and Carers’ Campaign has been running for over a decade now and has achieved significant improvements to rights for parents and carers. We have built on statutory rights and tried to make them work for our members and not just for workers in well-paid, secure jobs.
History shows that when unions and Labour work together we are an unstoppable force for social justice. Because unions bring the collective voices of nearly four million working people to the heart of Labour, we are able to work together to achieve real gains for working people.