Shopworkers’ trade union Usdaw has launched a new ‘Save our Shops’ petition at the Trades Union Congress in Brighton, calling on the Government to take urgent action to tackle the ongoing and deepening crisis in retail.
Hosted on the TUC’s ‘Megaphone’ website, shopworkers and shoppers are asked to add their support for an industrial strategy for retail by visiting: megaphone.org.uk/petitions/save-our-shops.
Usdaw General Secretary Paddy Lillis (pictured) commented: “Usdaw’s petition calls for the urgent action needed to save jobs and protect our local high streets with a government-led clear and coherent strategy for retail. The Government must address the growing crisis on our high streets, as we have called for through our ‘Save our Shops’ campaign. Their ‘Towns Fund’ is a small sticking plaster for a crisis that threatens the jobs of hundreds of thousands of shopworkers and requires much more fundamental reforms.
“The retail industry is experiencing turbulent and challenging times. Directly employing around three million people and contributing 11% of UK economic output, it is clear that the retail crisis has a huge knock on effect, impacting the UK economy and a significant number of workers.
“The scale of store closures we have seen is devastating, not just for the workforce, but also for our communities and town centres. The Government needs to show that it takes retail jobs seriously by listening to and acting on workers’ concerns.”
