Union of Shop, Distributive and Allied Workers

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

Union of Shop, Distributive and Allied Workers
Predecessor	National Union of Distributive and Allied Workers National Union of Shop Assistants, Warehousemen and Clerks
Founded	1 January 1947
Headquarters	Voyager Building, 2 Furness Quay, Salford Quays, Manchester, M50 3XZ
Location	United Kingdom
Members	356,652 (2022)[1]
Key people	Paddy Lillis, General Secretary Jane Jones, President
Affiliations	TUC, ICTU, STUC, Labour[2]
Website	www.usdaw.org.uk

Usdaw relies upon a "partnership" model with large employers such as with Tesco, where the management of both the business and the trade union have "privileged access" to their counterparts. 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] This attitude has earned the union the pejorative backronym of Useless Seven Days A Week amongst workers and trade unionists.^[4][5]

It is widely considered to be on the right-wing on the political spectrum,^[6][7] occupying the "politically conservative" section of the Labour Party.^[8][9] Usdaw is also affiliated to the Co-operative Party.^[10] 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.^[11]

In September 2024, Udsaw won a Supreme Court battle against Tesco over so-called "fire and rehire" plans put forward by the supermarket giant. The row erupted in 2021 after Tesco proposed firing staff at some distribution centres and rehiring them on lower pay.^[12]

History

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,^[13] and the Scottish Union of Bakers and Allied Workers in 1978.^[14]

Publications

USDAW produces a quarterly membership magazine for members, Arena, as well as a bimonthly magazine for union activists, Network.

2022 annual survey report

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.^[15]

General Secretaries

Since 1947, USDAW has had eight General Secretaries:^[16]

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

Presidents

Since 1947, USDAW has had eleven Presidents:^[16]

1947: Percy Cottrell

1948: Walter Padley

1964: Dick Seabrook^{[citation needed]}

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^[17]

2021: Jane Jones ^[18]