TORY failures on wages, living standards and public services have left Britain’s high streets struggling to survive, TUC general secretary Paul Nowak told Usdaw’s annual conference today.
In an address to more than 1,000 delegates, officials and visitors to Blackpool, Mr Nowak received a standing ovation after warning that the “heartbeats of our communities” are being destroyed by corporate interests, calling for “wealth taxes the rich can’t dodge and a level playing field in retail as well.”
He said retail giant Amazon “paid not a single penny of corporation tax” last year, despite its £27 billion in net sales in Britain.
“And that undermines the high street, destroys jobs and short-changes our public services,” he said.
“So it’s about time Amazon played by the same rules as everyone else. Time for them to pay fair taxes, recognise a union and do right by taxpayers and their own workers alike.”
Mr Nowak blasted rampant shareholder dividends and the fact that top chief executives earn more by January 4 than their staff make in a whole year.
He praised Usdaw for winning inflation-busting rises at the Co-op and Tesco last year, and urged delegates to lobby Labour to deliver its New Deal for Workers in full, saying it will give “unions new rights to access workplaces, boosting our chances of winning recognition at the likes of Aldi, Amazon, Lidl, Boohoo and all the rest.”
Mr Nowak said the union should be “incredibly proud” that its long-running Freedom from Fear campaign forced the government to bring forward new laws to protect shopworkers from assault.
“Shoplifting is not a victimless crime,” Mr Nowak said.
“The victims are your members, who face horrendous abuse and physical assaults in the course of their work.
“Our job as trade unionists isn’t just to call out this shocking abuse.
“It’s to stamp it out, once and for all. Everyone has the right to work free from fear — no ifs, no buts, no exceptions, and thanks to Usdaw, they will.”
Mr Nowak said he was absolutely delighted that shadow chancellor Rachel Reeves, who has ruled out a wealth tax, has “heeded the TUC’s call” to invest in HMRC to close the tax gap and clamp down on tax cheats.
In January, Unite general secretary Sharon Graham slammed Tesco for “raking in bumper profits on the back of profiteering” after it reported bigger than expected profits of £2.75bn this year.
