Government Accused Of Attacking Workers Basic Right

The shopworkers Union Usdaw has accused the coalition Government of attacking the most fundamental of workers rights - the right to be safe at work. Moving the Rights at Work motion at the Labour Party Annual Conference in Manchester, Usdaw General Secretary John Hannett said:

"People occasionally get killed at work. It's unfortunate but it's part of life. These are not my words, but the words of Lord Young.

He was Margaret Thatcher's hatchet man, a man whose views were shaped by a bygone age, an age when working people were deemed to be expendable. But this is the man now resurrected by David Cameron as the Government's Chief Advisor on health and safety.

Lord Young needs to know this is not an occasional problem. Over 20,000 people die each year because of their work. That is not unfortunate. It is tragic.

I represent people who work on the frontline of retail. Every day they are there to help the shopping public and give a good service. Most of the time, that is a pleasant experience for both parties. But sometimes shopworkers face verbal abuse, threats and even violence.

The Tories claim that shops and offices are safe workplaces, that they don't need health and safety inspections. It's true that they don't have the obvious hazards of a chemical factory, or an oil rig, but there are hidden dangers. Like so many other public facing workers, those dangers tend to come from other people.

That is why I launched Usdaw's Freedom from Fear campaign and that is why we are backing the Bill that Hugh Henry is taking through the Scottish Parliament to extend Labour's protection for emergency service workers to all public facing workers. Violence against staff is never acceptable in any workplace.

As soon as the Tories and Lib Dems got into power, they attacked the most fundamental workplace right - the right to be safe. The Tories, because they are ideologically committed to putting profit before people and the Lib Dems, because they are ideologically committed to clinging to their ministerial limos.

They justify their attacks by peddling myths and misinformation. But the truth is that one in ten shopworkers are assaulted every year. Every minute of every day a shopworker is verbally abused. And 1.2 million workers suffer from a work related illness.

We must keep independent workplace inspections, we must resource rigorous enforcement of the law and we must protect all public facing workers. Protect them from the dangers of the workplace and from the dangers of the coalition Government."

Source: USDAW

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