No blank cheque for Labour

Socialist Party members in Usdaw

Retail and distribution union Usdaw’s Annual Delegate Meeting (ADM) in Blackpool this year takes place ten months since the fall of 14 years of Tory rule, with a Labour government which many Usdaw members hoped would bring relief after years of austerity and worsening living standards.

But while Usdaw leaders supported Starmer, Socialist Party members warned whose side the Labour government would be on. One of its first acts, cutting the winter fuel allowance, has set the tone. Usdaw members voted last year to call on the incoming government to scrap the two-child benefit cap, but Starmer kept it and suspended MPs who voted against. Labour betrayed the WASPI women pensioners and now attacks disability benefit claimants. Massive cuts are proposed to government departments, council cuts continue, and privatisation is extended in the NHS. Meanwhile, chancellor Rachel Reeves decided to ‘soften’ her approach to non-dom tax evaders.

No wonder Oxfam reported that in 2024, UK billionaires’ combined wealth went up by £35 million a day! This is what is meant when Labour declares it is a ‘strong voice for business’ and that ‘Labour has changed’.

Retail workers under attack

The climate is not looking rosy for retail and distribution workers either. The key December month saw retail sales fall by 0.3% rather than the 0.4% growth that had been projected.

Retail workers know from experience that bosses will try to cut our jobs, hold back pay, and close stores to protect their profits.

Retail store closures increased by 28% from 2023 to 2024, according to the Centre for Retail Research, with projections made in January that 17,000 stores could close this year.

Usdaw-organised workers in Sainsbury’s are facing 3,000 job cuts and café closures. Morrisons is closing 17 convenience stores and shutting 52 cafés, while 400 jobs are to go in Tesco and Sunday premiums have been scrapped.

Members will be looking for a response from the newly elected general secretary, Joanne Thomas. The previous leadership’s model of partnership/tripartite-working will be especially unable to deliver for members in the more stormy period of global economic convulsion ahead.

In the snap election called as a result of the sudden resignation of the general secretary and deputy general secretary, in order to raise the fighting programme that is needed, supporters of the union’s Broad Left met and decided to put forward Socialist Party member Scott Jones for deputy general secretary, after other candidates without the necessary fighting stance had already declared. But unfortunately, with the short timescales, Scott didn’t receive the required number of nominations to get on the ballot paper.

Weetabix strike

Usdaw members will need to be in a position to take industrial action in order to win the pay rises and conditions we deserve and our employers can certainly afford. We send solidarity to our members at Weetabix, who have taken strike action on pay – showing that Usdaw members are prepared to take action if the union gives a lead.

That’s why Usdaw members will be outraged that the pledge to repeal the Tories’ 2016 anti-union law has still not been carried out. This includes the undemocratic 50% ballot turnout thresholds. The crisis at Scunthorpe steelworks shows how legislation could be rushed through parliament in 24 hours, so why did it take 97 days to publish ‘Making Work Pay’ proposals, themselves watered down from the original ‘New Deal for Working People’? Usdaw should demand no more time is lost and they are repealed immediately.

Political voice

Usdaw, like many trade unions, has a parliamentary group of MPs it works with to raise issues in parliament. Usdaw members should demand that those MPs argue for the policies our members have adopted at ADM.

Of the Usdaw parliamentary group of MPs, only one, Navendu Mishra, has committed to vote against disability benefits cuts. Four, including Usdaw parliamentary group secretary Helen Dallimore and vice-chair Connor Rand, co-signed a letter supporting the cuts!

The disillusionment being felt by many who voted for an end to the Tories is fuelling the cynical attempt by Nigel Farage’s Reform UK to fill the vacuum.

Usdaw members urgently need both a strong industrial muscle to challenge the bosses and a political voice to challenge their representatives in parliament. Workers desperately need a new mass party on a socialist programme as an alternative to the pro-big business parties, which includes Starmer’s Labour. As a step towards this, we need to back trade union-based candidates who will stand up and consistently fight for our interests, whether they are in Labour or not.

There is no reason why workers in vital sectors like the supermarkets, food and pharmaceutical manufacturing, and retail, should be as low paid as many of our members are. We need to boldly face up to this new period, and challenge the bosses for the pay and conditions we deserve.

Usdaw ‘Activist’ ADM fringe meeting

Monday 5 May 12.30-1.30pm, Melville Hotel, 70-72 Adelaide Street, Blackpool, FY1 4LA