Stop the Supermarket Bosses

Making Us Pay for Their Mistakes

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the Activist Issue 56

ADM 2015 Special

Bulletin of Socialist Party members in

The past year has been a bruising one for retail and dis-tribution workers. One super-market company after another has faced a crisis while high street shop closures have failed to significantly slow.

Retail workers still aren't paid a living wage while our terms, conditions and pensions are under attack.

This impression is backed up by survey figures quoted in the 'Cost of Living Crisis' docu-ment being presented to Us-daw's 2015 Annual Delegate Meeting (ADM) in Blackpool.

Only 5% of respondents feel better off compared to five years ago. 31% have had their working hours cut and a mea-sly 8% have had pay rises that keep up with inflation.

29% struggle to pay their bills every month, 52% occasion-ally struggle and 21% regu-larly go without meals. No wonder there are reports of supermarket workers using food banks.

Yet Usdaw's response has been insufficient. Despite sup-porting the call at the TUC congress last year for a £10 an hour minimum wage, our lead-ers in the document come out in support of Labour's far

weaker £8 an hour by 2020 pledge.

Labour also says it will abolish only 'exploitative' zero-hour contracts - rather than ban-ning them altogether.

In a climate where major su-permarkets face multiple cri-ses, financial fiddling as well as new challenges in the online and discount sectors, this may seem far off.

But despite the headline fig-ures, the supermarkets still control the overwhelming ma-jority of the food retail market and are profitable. Losses due to one-off write-downs are be-ing used to justify forcing through attacks on our condi-tions.

For example, Tesco made an operating profit of over a £1bn, whereas its reported losses are mostly due to a £7bn writedown of the value of property which will no

longer be used to build new supermarkets.

Retail workers should stand firm and refuse to suffer as a consequence of the retail bosses' mistakes. The support for this position was demon-strated by the 45% of the vote won by Socialist Party member Amy Murphy in the recent presidential elections.

Usdaw's official opposition to pension changes in Tesco is welcome. But this shouldn't just remain a negotiating stance, but be taken to its logical conclusion of a public and industrial campaign.

We need to campaign for a living wage for all retail and distribution and fight to de-fend and improve our existing terms and conditions. Doing so can also help Usdaw recruit the two million unorganised retail workers.

What will the General Election mean for USDAW members?

An Activist fringe meeting 6pm, Sunday 26th April Britannia Room, Ruskin Hotel, Albert Rd, FY1 4PW Chair, Amy Murphy, USDAW EC member (personal capacity)

Bulletin of Socialist Party members in USDAW

Find out more: usdawactivist.wordpress.com / usdawactivist@gmail.com / Facebook: ‘Usdaw Activist’

In the general election this year, the Trade Unionist & Socialist Coalition (TUSC) is the sixth big-gest party standing, fielding 135 candidates across the country. Despite having our first ever na-tional party political broadcast aired on all the major TV chan-nels, TUSC may still be the big-gest party you’ve never heard of! This won’t be for long however as Labour, the union Usdaw is affiliated to, have promised to continue to Tory austerity, many will look to an alternative, an alternative that TUSC is lay-ing the foundations for. I am running as one of those candidates in Llanelli and we have two other candidates who were until recently Usdaw reps in South Wales alone. The sit-ting MP for Llanelli is Labour’s Nia Griffith who is part of the Usdaw group of MPs but her voting record in parliament isn’t a record of support for retail workers and trade unions and as branch secretary of my Us-daw branch for the past year she hasn’t been in touch once to offer support for our cam-paigns or solidarity in the many struggles we are facing. I am standing because I believe the Labour Party is no longer a party of Labour and that affilia-tion to Labour is a millstone around the necks of the unions that are affiliated. Even the un-ions who aren’t affiliated suffer because whilst they fight harder than the Labour supporting un-

ions they do so with one hand tied behind their backs. We need a political alternative that unashamedly fights for and sup-ports working class people and our organisations. This is shown clearly over pay. It is TUC policy to fight for £10 per hour, a policy shared by TUSC. However, Labour pledges a measly £8 per hour in 5 years’ time! Moreover Labour pledges only to cap rent and fuel price rises, not the already exorbitant levels they are already at. TUSC is taking huge strides for-

ward in this election and is plac-

ing itself in a position to play a

major role in the changes that

will take place in the next five

years, when workers and unions

alike face up to the pros-

pect that a new workers

party is needed, as a su-

permarket worker, Usdaw

rep and TUSC candidate I

urge you to get on board

with us, vote TUSC where

you can but also help us

build a real alternative for

the future.

Scott Jones, TUSC candidate for Llanelli

9th annual conference takes place on Saturday 4th July, Conway Hall 25 Red

Lion Square, London WC1R 4RL 11am-4.30am

Speakers include: Mark Serwotka, PCS General Secretary;

Ronnie Draper, BFAWU General Secretary See www.shopstewards.net for info

Usdaw Branch Secretary Stands for TUSC

The Activist is pleased to see an increased number of very positive propositions and amendments on the interim agenda for ADM. The propositions on State Benefit Smartcards, opposing the Transat-lantic Trade and Investment Part-nership (TTIP), abortion rights, no-strike agreements, Education Main-tenance Allowance, Nationalising Deep Pit Coal Mines, Communica-tion are amongst a whole raft of propositions we believe union mem-bers should support. We would particularly argue for support for the amendment on wages rises from Llanelli branch which calls on Usdaw to campaign for a £10 an hour minimum wage. Given the Usdaw delegation voted to support this demand at the TUC congress last year it is a very rea-sonable amendment. However, the Usdaw leaderships support for Labour’s very weak pro-posal of £8 an hour, and only in 2020 may lead them to strenuously oppose this. Delegates should also note that the annual report states that the union is once again in a multi-million pound surplus for the year, and may question why S1 is being in-creased again. Also, delegates may wish to query why yet another In-ternational trip (pg 44) has not been properly reported to members

Activists’ Guide to ADM