Catalogue Number
NMLH.1992.702
Object Name
Poster
Title
'Distributive workers membership advantages through better conditions, security and protection, financial aid, legal advice, higher living standards, shorter hours. USDAW. Join now!'
Place
Fallowfield, Manchester, Lancashire
People
Union of Shop, Distributive and Allied Workers (USDAW)
Description
A large red, green, yellow, and white poster. The text reads 'Distributive workers membership advantages through better conditions, security and protection, financial aid, legal advice, higher living standards, shorter hours.' Each of these points are on images of scrolls each of which point to large green letters on the side of the poster which read USDAW. The bottom of the poster says 'Join now!' beside the name of the union and Manchester branch address.
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.
