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From: The Socialist issue 1116, 13 January 2021: Our health and livelihoods before their profits

Search site for keywords: Usdaw - Union - Council - Workers - Retail - Pay

Ryan Aldred: Why I'm standing for the Usdaw union executive council

Ryan Aldred, left, campaigning against Debenhams job losses and store closures (Click to enlarge)

With Covid decimating the retail sector, it is vital that Usdaw takes a lead in organising retail and distribution workers in supermarkets, high street chains and smaller, independent businesses.

Workers shouldn't pay for this crisis, every job must be defended.

We need an end to zero and low-hours contracts, except where members specifically opt in.

Supermarket and distribution staff have worked through three lockdowns to ensure that everyone in Britain has access to food. Retail and distribution workers should be rewarded with wages that reflect their status as key workers.

This is why we need £12 an hour as a minimum wage with hazard pay for workers putting themselves at risk to continue to deliver what has been recognised as a vital service.

We shouldn't shy away from taking industrial action up to and including strike action if supermarket bosses refuse to give up their bumper profits.

We need to challenge companies like Sainsbury's which can afford to pay out massive dividends to shareholders while simultaneously putting thousands of jobs at risk.

With each subsequent lockdown we have seen many names disappearing from the high street for good. We need a leadership prepared to roll out a retail industrial strategy calling for public ownership to save the hundreds of thousands of jobs currently at risk, whether it be Debenhams, the Arcadia Group or any of those on the growing list of retailers who have fallen into administration.

If elected, I would take such a strategy to the Usdaw executive council to ensure that key supermarket workers and non-essential retail and distribution workers alike are protected. A vote for me is a vote for a fighting, democratic leadership.

Socialist Party member Ryan is standing in the South Wales and Western Division, with ballot papers out on 18 January. See 'Ryan Aldred for Usdaw EC' on Facebook and usdawactivist.wordpress.com for more

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Finance appeal

The coronavirus crisis has laid bare the class character of society in numerous ways. It is making clear to many that it is the working class that keeps society running, not the CEOs of major corporations.

The results of austerity have been graphically demonstrated as public services strain to cope with the crisis.

The government has now ripped up its 'austerity' mantra and turned to policies that not long ago were denounced as socialist. But after the corona crisis, it will try to make the working class pay for it, by trying to claw back what has been given.

The Socialist Party's material is more vital than ever, so we can continue to report from workers who are fighting for better health and safety measures, against layoffs, for adequate staffing levels, etc.
When the health crisis subsides, we must be ready for the stormy events ahead and the need to arm workers' movements with a socialist programme - one which puts the health and needs of humanity before the profits of a few.