Union of Shop, Distributive and Allied Workers

The Union of Shop, Distributive and Allied Workers (Usdaw) is a trade union in the United Kingdom, consisting of over 360,000 members. 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 there exists "privileged access" to the management of both organisations. 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. This attitude has earned the union the pejorative backronym of Useless Seven Days A Week amongst workers and trade unionists.

It is widely considered to be on the right-wing on the political spectrum, occupying the "politically conservative" section of the Labour Party. Usdaw is also affiliated to the Co-operative Party. 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.

History
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.

Publications
USDAW produces a quarterly membership magazine for members, Arena, as well as a bimonthly magazine for union activists, Network.

2022 annual survey report
Statistics taken from the USDAW 2022 annual survey of over 7,700 of its retail members showed that high levels of verbal abuse, threats and assaults were common in the industry. The survey also found the number of incidents has come down since the exceptionally high levels during the pandemic, but remain higher than pre-Covid levels in 2019.

General Secretaries
Since 1947, USDAW has had eight General Secretaries:
 * 1947: Sir Joseph Hallsworth
 * 1949: Sir Alan Birch
 * 1962: Lord Allen of Fallowfield
 * 1979: Bill Whatley
 * 1986: Lord Davies of Coity
 * 1997: Sir William Connor
 * 2004: John Hannett
 * 2018: Paddy Lillis

Presidents
Since 1947, USDAW has had eleven Presidents:
 * 1947: Percy Cottrell
 * 1948: Walter Padley
 * 1964: Dick Seabrook
 * 1965: Rodney Haines
 * 1967: Dick Seabrook
 * 1974: Jim D. Hughes
 * 1977: Sydney Tierney
 * 1991: Audrey Wise
 * 1997: Marge Carey, MBE
 * 2006: Jeff Broome
 * 2018: Amy Murphy
 * 2021: Jane Jones