Socialist Party members in Usdaw
The annual delegate meeting (ADM) of Usdaw, the shop and distribution workers’ union, took place in Blackpool’s Winter Gardens in the run-up to both the local elections and Blackpool South parliamentary by-election.
The union leadership was unequivocal in its backing of a future Keir Starmer-led government, with a number of debates and national executive statements geared towards our union promoting Labour as “the only way” of seeing the end of Tory rule.
While, overall, Usdaw delegates supported this position on, desperate to get rid of the Tories, it was also clear that it alienated a section who hold no faith in Starmer to deliver. An increase in Usdaw Broad Left membership is one expression of this. What is also apparent are the future battle lines that will be drawn up.
Starmer, Usdaw ADM’s guest speaker, was well received when talking on aspects of Usdaw’s policies which he would back, such as introducing new legislation to clamp down on abuse of shop workers. However, he also made other remarks which make clear whose side he is really on. Starmer made mention of the Winter Gardens being the place where Tony Blair gave his first speech as Labour leader, adding it was “his Clause IV moment” and declaring that “Labour will hold out a hand to business”.
Starmer declared to general secretary Paddy Lillis at the beginning of his address: “Paddy, you have been a good friend to me through thick and thin and I intend to be a good friend to you through thick and thin.” Yet, we also got a taste of Starmer’s integrity or lack thereof, with him promising, when questioned by an Usdaw delegate, that he would not water down terms of Labour’s New Deal for Workers, which he promptly went back on, the next day, on May Day to add further insult to injury.
Even if Usdaw’s leadership is cozy with the right-wing Labour leadership, a whole swathe of propositions brought to this year’s ADM call for action on precisely the kinds of policies which Labour has already scrapped or watered down. These include: reaffirming the UK’s commitment to net zero, scrapping the two-child benefit cap, protecting the pensions triple lock, and providing free school meals, to name but a few.
Such policies will quickly become a sticking point for workers and Usdaw members in the likely scenario that Starmer forms the next government. In order to demonstrate that he can be a safe pair of hands for capitalism, he has already made it abundantly clear that he intends to stick to Tory government spending plans and is prepared to ditch pro-worker policies.
Usdaw’s role shouldn’t be as a ‘good friend’ to Labour ‘through thick and thin’, but to fight for our union’s policies, whoever is in government. Our union should back those who are politically prepared to put forward policies which will benefit the union membership. With Starmer showing a propensity to break pledges and U-turn in the interests of big business before he’s even in government, Usdaw members should be prepared to back candidates who will better represent their interests or stand themselves, even if that means doing so independently of Labour.
Shoplifting
On the eve of Usdaw ADM, it was reported that shoplifting offences recorded by the police have hit record highs since modern records began in 2002.
Shoplifting is a crime that rises and falls with people’s living standards, with thefts from shops spiking in the Thatcher era, as well as after the recent austerity and cost-of-living crises.
But as Usdaw members know, this isn’t a victimless crime. Alongside shoplifting, assault on retail workers has been creeping up. The British Retail Consortium’s annual crime survey released in February last year showed there were 1,300 incidents of abuse and violence against retail workers, 50% up on the previous year.
Usdaw’s campaigning on this issue has focused on dealing with the aftermath of these incidents – calling for a specific offence of assaulting a retail worker to be reduced, removing the arbitrary £200 threshold for prosecuting shoplifting and increasing police numbers.
But prevention would be far better – no workers should be assaulted simply for doing their job. Usdaw’s Freedom From Fear campaign often focuses on measures under the control of national government, and can seem to let the employer off the hook. Measures we should be demanding of employers could include ending single-person staffing of small shops, or ending the outsourcing of security guards in retail stores. Disappointingly, a motion calling for the latter at the ADM was withdrawn before it could be debated.
This needs to be linked to measures to alleviate the poverty levels that a decade of austerity and the cost-of-living crisis have sent skyrocketing – this could include measures such as increasing the minimum wage to Usdaw’s demand of £15 an hour, and providing benefits people can live off, including scrapping the two-child cap, as voted for at this year’s ADM. This would undercut the desperate position some individuals find themselves in, as well as the market for some of the criminal gangs that have begun to steal from shops to sell goods on.
Ultimately, we cannot rely on the supermarket bosses and their political representatives to protect retail workers – their driving motive is increasing their profits. Measures for retail workers’ safety should be put under the democratic control of elected workers’ representatives, linked to bringing the big supermarkets and distribution companies into democratic public ownership so their huge resources can be put towards meeting the needs of all workers.
