Latest editorial
FORMER Woolworths workers were left “heartbroken” yesterday after their union lost a legal bid to secure them compensation.
In January, 2012, Usdaw won tens of millions of pounds in compensation from the government for 25,000 former employees who were illegally sacked when Woolworths and Ethel Austin chains folded.
But 1,200 Ethel Austin employees and 3,200 from Woolworths were denied compensation because they worked in stores with fewer than 20 staff.
Employment lawyer ALICE BOWMAN warns ‘day one rights’ include an undefined ‘initial period’ and the zero-hours contract fixes create baffling fixed-term loopholes. If the Bill doesn’t work properly and deliver, Labour is doomed
Incoming Usdaw general secretary JOANNE THOMAS talks to Ben Chacko about workers’ rights, Labour and how to arrest the decline of the high street