Union of Shop, Distributive and Allied Workers

{{Short description|British trade union}}

{{Infobox organization

| name = Usdaw

| location_country = United Kingdom

| affiliation = TUC, ICTU, STUC, Labour{{cite web|url=http://www.unionstogether.org.uk/pages/member_unions |title=TULO's member unions | Unions Together |access-date=July 18, 2013 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120311211534/http://www.unionstogether.org.uk/pages/member_unions |archive-date=March 11, 2012 }}

| members = {{decrease}} 356,652 (2022){{cite web |title=Union of Shop, Distributive and Allied Workers Form AR21 for year ended 31 December 202q |url=https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/65043681dec5be000dc35f51/382T_2022.pdf|website=GOV.UK |access-date=10 September 2024}}

| full_name = Union of Shop, Distributive and Allied Workers

| image = Image:USDAW logo.png

| founded = 1 January 1947

| predecessor = National Union of Distributive and Allied Workers
National Union of Shop Assistants, Warehousemen and Clerks

| dissolved =

| merged =

| headquarters = Voyager Building, 2 Furness Quay, Salford Quays, Manchester, M50 3XZ

| key_people = Paddy Lillis, General Secretary
Jane Jones, President

| website = {{URL|www.usdaw.org.uk}}

| footnotes =

}}

The Union of Shop, Distributive and Allied Workers (Usdaw) is a trade union in the United Kingdom, consisting of over 360,000 members.{{cite web | url=https://www.usdaw.org.uk/About-Us | title=USDAW - About Us }} 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 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.{{cite book |last1=Brookes |first1=Marissa |title=The new politics of transnational labor : why some alliances succeed |date=2019 |publisher=Cornell University Press |location=Ithaca, New York |isbn=9781501733208 |pages=101 |edition=illustrated |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=24x8DwAAQBAJ&pg=PA101 |access-date=8 August 2022 |language=en |chapter=(3) Service Sector Solidarity: Coordinating the Tesco and G4S Campaigns}} This attitude has earned the union the pejorative backronym of Useless Seven Days A Week amongst workers and trade unionists.{{cite web |title="Precarious" work and industrial organisation in modern Britain (PART 2) |url=https://0161festival.com/precarious-work-and-industrial-organisation-in-modern-britain-part-2/ |website=0161 Festival |access-date=8 August 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210623114311/https://0161festival.com/precarious-work-and-industrial-organisation-in-modern-britain-part-2/ |archive-date=23 June 2021 |location=Manchester |language=en |date=29 March 2019}}

It is widely considered to be on the right-wing on the political spectrum,{{cite book |last1=Taylor |first1=Andrew |title=The Trade Unions and the Labour Party |date=1987 |publisher=Taylor & Francis |location=Milton |isbn=9780429833243 |pages=114 |edition=December 2018 |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=iKp-DwAAQBAJ&pg=PT114 |access-date=8 August 2022 |language=en |chapter=(1) The Genesis of the Social Contract |quote=Usdaw is traditionally right wing}}{{cite book |last1=Marsh |first1=David |author1-link=David Marsh (political scientist) |title=The New Politics of British Trade Unionism Union Power and the Thatcher Legacy |date=27 February 1992 |publisher=Macmillan Education |location=London |isbn=9781349219216 |pages=143 |edition=1st |url=https://google.co.uk/books/edition/The_New_Politics_of_British_Trade_Unioni/-SBIEAAAQBAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1&dq=%22usdaw%22&pg=PA143&printsec=frontcover |access-date=8 August 2022 |language=en |chapter=(6) Trade Unions and the Labour Party - (s.2) Trade Unions and constitutional reform, 1979-83}} occupying the "politically conservative" section of the Labour Party.{{cite book |last1=Lynch |first1=Samantha |last2=Price |first2=Robin |last3=Pyman |first3=Amanda |last4=Bailey |first4=Janis |editor1-last=Bozkurt |editor1-first=Ödül |editor2-last=Grugulis |editor2-first=Irena |title=Retail Work |date=15 March 2011 |publisher=Bloomsbury Publishing |location=London |isbn=9780230344884 |pages=284 |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=qJtGEAAAQBAJ&pg=PA284 |language=en |chapter=(14) Representing and Organising Retail Workers: A Comparative Study of the UK and Australia}}{{cite news |last1=Thomas |first1=Mark |title=How supermarket workers buck the trend |url=https://socialistworker.co.uk/socialist-review-archive/how-supermarket-workers-buck-trend/ |access-date=8 August 2022 |work=Socialist Review |issue=447 |publisher=Socialist Workers Party |date=3 June 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220808201657/https://socialistworker.co.uk/socialist-review-archive/how-supermarket-workers-buck-trend/ |archive-date=8 August 2022 |location=London |language=en}} Usdaw is also affiliated to the Co-operative Party.[https://party.coop/officers/handbook/wider-movement/ Co-operative Party] Wider movement 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.{{cite web |last1=Hartley |first1=Joshua |title=Former employee of factory claims to be a victim of 'fire and hire' |url=https://www.nottinghampost.com/news/former-employee-factory-makes-boots-6092258 |website=Nottingham Post |publisher=Trinity Mirror |access-date=8 August 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220808204430/https://www.nottinghampost.com/news/former-employee-factory-makes-boots-6092258 |archive-date=8 August 2022 |location=Nottingham |language=en |date=17 November 2021}}

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.{{Cite web |date=2024-09-12 |title=Union wins Tesco 'fire and rehire' case |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/ceq5qj0l4j5o#comments |access-date=2024-09-12 |website=BBC News |language=en-GB}}