Paddy Lillis – Usdaw general secretary says: “We are alarmed by the racist legacy left by a Tory government that has emboldened and legitimised far-right groups, increased levels of hate crime and fuelled racist, anti-migrant, transphobic, homophobic and misogynistic narratives in the media. It is deeply concerning that political parties with a far-right agenda are gaining traction, and young people are actively being targeted by far-right groups with extremist content and misinformation online. We are clear that it is austerity and neglect, not asylum seekers or migrant workers, that are responsible for the decline in public services and wage stagnation. We cannot allow the far right to sow division in our workplaces and communities; unions must continue to stand against prejudice, hatred and discrimination.”
Usdaw is calling on the Young Workers’ Committee to:
- Put tackling the far right at the top of the agenda, working alongside the TUC and the TUC equality committees to highlight and counter the impact of far-right narratives.
- Support the campaign work of unions and anti-racist organisations to build a bold, unified movement against the far right.
- Continue to explore new ways to reach out to young workers online and at work to promote unions as a collective force for progressive change.
Paddy Lillis continues: “We very much welcome the Government’s commitment to eliminate wage disparity for young people in the National Minimum Wage. This, alongside the Employment Rights Bill tackling issues such as one-sided flexibility, will have a significant and positive impact on the lives of young workers. It is time to look at other employment provisions based on age and to remove all age-related discrimination from the workplace. We welcome that, as part of the consultation on collective redundancy provisions and tackling fire and rehire, the Government has committed to gathering further views on strengthening the collective redundancy framework in 2025. It is clear that any further review of redundancy provisions cannot ignore the ingrained age discrimination in the Statutory Redundancy Pay framework.”
Usdaw calls on delegates to support:
- Continuing to push for action on the issues affecting young workers.
- Making the case for equitable redundancy pay in Government consultation responses, specifically when the Government comes to gather views on strengthening the collective redundancy framework in 2025.
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 Bluesky @usdawunion.bsky.social and Twitter/X @UsdawUnion