Paddy Lillis – Usdaw general secretary says: “It's no secret that the retail sector has faced many longstanding challenges over the past decade. So far this year an estimated 50,000 jobs have been lost across the industry, along with nearly 5,000 store closures. In many other sectors this would be headline news, but all too often retail workers and their jobs are treated as disposable.
“Not only is this insulting to hard working retail staff, it's a complete nonsense.
The retail sector employs nearly 3 million people and is the largest private sector employer in the UK. Not only is retail a fundamental part of our economy, but retail jobs also lie at the heart of our communities and town centres.
“Join us at this important fringe event, where we will look at how we can shape the retail sector to ensure it can deliver better jobs for retail workers, better prosperity for our communities and better growth for our economy.”
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
Usdaw fringe meeting: Sunday 22 September, 7.15pm to 8pm, Arena Room 8, ACC Liverpool.
For Usdaw press releases visit: http://www.usdaw.org.uk/news and you can follow us on Twitter/X @UsdawUnion