Usdaw recognition boost


A campaign by shopworkers’ union Usdaw for recognition at online fashion retailer Boohoo has received a boost from a committee of MPs. The company employs 3,000 staff at its warehouse in Burnley, Lancashire, and is the area’s largest employer.


The Commons Environmental Audit Committee’s Interim report on the sustainability of the fashion industry recommended that Boohoo “engage with Usdaw as a priority and recognise unions for its workers”.


Boohoo joint chief executive Carol Kane had previously told the committee that Boohoo would recognise a union “if the workers would like it”, but that “there does not currently appear to be a demand for our workers in our Burnley warehouse to require a union”. But the union was able to provide evidence of efforts to secure union recognition over the past two years, including 23 recruitment and awareness activities at the Burnley site and written communications to Kane and Boohoo’s HR director on the issue. 


The committee report said: “Overall, it is clear that despite Carol Kane’s assertion to the committee that Boohoo is open to recognising a trade union to represent their workers, the company has, over a prolonged period of time, refused even the most basic level of engagement with Usdaw and appears hostile to the very idea of recognising a trade union.


“We recommend that Boohoo engage with Usdaw as a priority and recognise unions for its workers.”


https://www.usdaw.org.uk/About-Us/News/2019/Jan/Usdaw-welcomes-Parliamentary-support-for-union-rec

https://publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm201719/cmselect/cmenvaud/1148/1148.pdf