Trade unions affiliated to the Labour Party, under their umbrella organisation ‘Labour Unions’, have organised a weekend of campaigning (14-16 February), talking to communities about Labour’s Make Work Pay agenda, why the New Deal is so important and showing how the lives of millions of working people and their families will be transformed by:
Making work pay:
- Raise the minimum wage so it’s a genuine living wage you can actually live on.
- Strengthen sick pay and make it available to everyone.
- More say at work so unions can raise pay and improve conditions.
Security at work:
- Crack down on bad employers with tough enforcement of rights at work.
- Ban zero-hours contracts, and fire and rehire.
- Full employment rights from day one for all workers, including sick pay, parental leave and protection from unfair dismissal.
Work-life balance:
- Flexible working and family-friendly hours as a right from day one at work.
- A contract that reflects the number of hours you regularly work, with compensation for cancelled shifts.
- A ‘right to switch off’ outside working hours so work stays at work.
Paddy Lillis – Usdaw general secretary says: “This is historic legislation that will help end years of low-paid, insecure employment which failed our economy, businesses and working people. The Employment Rights Bill will help secure economic growth by improving productivity after years of stagnation, and stop rogue employers undercutting those who treat their staff properly, while giving workers security, respect and the decency of an income they can live on.
“Usdaw has long campaigned for a new deal for workers, and the Employment Rights Bill delivers on that. The Bill also builds on the action already taken by Labour in Government to significantly increase minimum wage rates from April, with the Low Pay Commission for the first time required to take into account the cost of living and make progress towards ending rip-off youth rates.
“We will continue to engage with the Government as the Bill progresses, to make sure it delivers the much-needed change that our members and all workers need.”
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
Labour Unions: https://labourunions.org.uk/
For Usdaw press releases visit: http://www.usdaw.org.uk/news and you can follow us on Bluesky @usdawunion.bsky.social and Twitter/X @UsdawUnion