USDAW’s first female general secretary Joanne Thomas vowed to “make sure we keep on smashing ceilings” in her inaugural annual conference speech as leader today.

Addressing delegates in Blackpool, she said: “Although one glass ceiling may have been smashed last July, my job is to make sure that we keep on smashing ceilings, so that our union is truly representative, so that nobody is held back, so that we don’t just do what we’ve always done and get what we’ve always got.

“We know that many workers still face many barriers — confidence gaps, the challenges of juggling caring responsibilities and work, discrimination and class bias.

“But these challenges create leaders with empathy, resilience and fire, leaders who will listen deeply, leaders who will fight with purpose.”

While Ms Thomas’s speech did not mention the Employment Rights Act, she wrote to Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer last month raising concerns that the government is “set to fail to fulfil its manifesto commitment on guaranteed hours” in the implementation of the Act.

In her speech, Usdaw president Jane Jones celebrated the passing of the Act but warned that “there’s much more to be done” to keep shopworkers safe from assault.

“Our Freedom From Fear survey showed that nearly four in five of our members working in retail are being abused, threatened or assaulted, for simply doing their job,” she said.

She said that violence is still more than double pre-pandemic levels and “causes huge anxiety for so many of our members. 

“We won’t rest until all of our members are protected. That means employers taking decisive action and it means us stepping in to make sure that happens.”