The Employment Rights Bill also provides important new rights for workers to be given reasonable notice of their shifts, and compensation when shifts are cancelled or cut short without proper notice. Usdaw welcomes this and is calling for the notice period for shifts to be four weeks to help workers plan their lives.
As part of the evidence to the select committee, Paddy Lillis – Usdaw general secretary said: “Our primary interest is to ensure that people are fairly treated, are fairly rewarded at work and can go to work knowing what their earnings and hours are going to be. That they’re not going to have them changed at the employer’s whim. People on low-hours contracts continually being asked to work more hours and not being able to work for another employer – that’s unfair. Of course, if you make a complaint and you’re not represented by a trade union, you have those hours removed and there is no legislative recourse. This about making sure there is fairness, so people go to work knowing their income and their hours; that’s why the contract is so important.”
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
Business and Trade Commons Select Committee - Make Work Pay: Employment Rights Bill Inquiry:https://committees.parliament.uk/work/8569/make-work-pay-employment-rights-bill/
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