| Usdaw | |
| Location Country: | United Kingdom |
| Affiliation: | TUC, ICTU, STUC, Labour[1] |
| Members: | 369,437 (2021)[2] |
| Full Name: | Union of Shop, Distributive and Allied Workers |
| Founded: | 1 January 1947 |
| Predecessor: | National Union of Distributive and Allied Workers National Union of Shop Assistants, Warehousemen and Clerks |
| Headquarters: | Voyager Building, 2 Furness Quay, Salford Quays, Manchester, M50 3XZ |
| Key People: | Paddy Lillis, General Secretary Jane Jones, President |
The Union of Shop, Distributive and Allied Workers (Usdaw) is a trade union in the United Kingdom, consisting of over 360,000 members.[3] Usdaw members work in a variety of occupations and industries including: shopworkers, factory and warehouse workers, drivers, call centres, clerical workers, milkround and dairy process, butchers and meat packers, catering, laundries, chemical processing, home shopping and pharmaceutical.
Usdaw relies upon a "partnership" model with large employers such as with Tesco, where there exists "privileged access" to the management of both organisations. This arrangement coupled with its actions has been met with criticism, such as where the union seemingly presents itself as being concerned more with maintaining its positive, comfortable position and easy membership supply than that of fair representation of its members.[4]
It is widely considered to be on the right-wing on the political spectrum,[5] [6] occupying the "politically conservative" section of the Labour Party.[7] [8] Usdaw is also affiliated to the Co-operative Party.[9] In November 2021, the union was criticised at its refusal to negotiate with a Nottingham-based employer who was proposing a 'fire-and-rehire' policy leading to workers having to negotiate for themselves.[10]
The union was formed in 1947 by the merger of the National Union of Distributive and Allied Workers and the National Union of Shop Assistants, Warehousemen and Clerks. Some other unions have since merged in, including the Amalgamated Society of Boot and Shoe Makers and Repairers in 1955,[11] and the Scottish Union of Bakers and Allied Workers in 1978.[12]
USDAW produces a quarterly membership magazine for members, Arena, as well as a bimonthly magazine for union activists, Network.
Statistics taken from the USDAW 2022 annual survey of over 7,700 of its retail members showed that high levels of verbal abuse, threats and assaults were common in the industry. The survey also found the number of incidents has come down since the exceptionally high levels during the pandemic, but remain higher than pre-Covid levels in 2019.[13]
Since 1947, USDAW has had eight General Secretaries:[14]
1947: Sir Joseph Hallsworth
1949: Sir Alan Birch
1962: Lord Allen of Fallowfield
1979: Bill Whatley
1986: Lord Davies of Coity
1997: Sir William Connor
2004: John Hannett
2018: Paddy Lillis
Since 1947, USDAW has had eleven Presidents:
1947: Percy Cottrell
1948: Walter Padley
1964: Dick Seabrook
1965: Rodney Haines
1967: Dick Seabrook
1974: Jim D. Hughes
1977: Sydney Tierney
1991: Audrey Wise
1997: Marge Carey, MBE
2006: Jeff Broome
2018: Amy Murphy[15]
2021: Jane Jones [16]