Catalogue Number
NMLH.1991.115.16
Object Name
Poster
Title
'The Shop Bill concerns you. 'Later' shop closing is on the way unless you ACT NOW! and make it a better Shop Bill.'
Place
Fallowfeld, Manchester, Lancashire
People
Union of Shop, Distributive and Allied Workers (USDAW)
Events
1950 Shops Act
Date
1950
Description
A large poster with a pink background and the text 'The Shop Bill concerns you. 'Later' shop closing is on the way unless you ACT NOW! and make it a better Shop Bill'. At the bottom of the poster is the union name and Manchester office address.
The Shops Act 1950 was a UK Act of Parliament consolidating and updating existing legislation dealing with closing hours, Sunday trading in England and Wales, employment conditions and half-day holidays. It also ruled that every female shop worker had the right to suitable seating during work that didn't require them to stand (for example while working at a cash register). Previous legislation said that only one seat needed to be provided for every three women working in a shop, the others were expected to stand even if their work didn't require it. USDAW opposed later opening hours, and Sunday training as it would lead to shop workers being pressured to work on Sundays, and at unsociable evening hours, as the Shops Act put compulsory closing at 8pm, with one 9pm late close per week. The Shops Act was repealed and replaced in 1994 by the Deregulation and Contracting Out Act 1994.
The Union of Shop, Distributive and Allied Workers (USDAW) is a UK trade union with around 360,000 members who work across a variety of industries including call centres, warehouses and supermarkets. The union was formed in 1947 by the merger of the National Union of Distributive and Allied Workers and the National Union of Shop Assistants, Warehousemen and Clerks. Some other unions have since merged in, including the Amalgamated Society of Boot and Shoe Makers and Repairers in 1955, and the Scottish Union of Bakers and Allied Workers in 1978. Union membership can benefit workers as it allows the union to negotiate on their behalf during grievances, to negotiate pay rises and intervene if mass redundancies are threatened. Originally, a trade union would only represent a single profession, but over time it became more practical to have larger unions representing multiple professions, as USDAW does. Over six million people in the UK are union members in 2024, but during the industrial
era where people tended to stay in one profession for most of their working life, membership was much higher.
