"It has been a particular honour, and responsibility, to be elected as Usdaw's first woman General Secretary"
This weekend, Usdaw’s first woman general secretary Joanne Thomas gave her first speech to the union’s delegate conference since taking on the role. Thomas was elected as general secretary of the union – which represents shop workers – in July 2025.
Thomas used her speech to praise the role of women in the trade union movement. She told the conference: “It has been a particular honour, and responsibility, to be elected as Usdaw’s first woman General Secretary. It’s not just a personal victory, it’s a collective one.
“So I want to pay tribute to all the women in Usdaw, who paved this incredible path that I now get to walk down – the women I know and have been inspired by throughout my Usdaw journey, but also, the women who shaped Usdaw so many years ago, long before any of us were born. Women like Ellen Wilkinson, Margaret Bondfield, and Mary McArthur, women whose names I see on the walls in Head Office every day, who were born in a time when we could not even vote and yet they organised workers, they fought for change and they helped to build this union.”
Thomas continued: “When we have lived with barriers, we understand struggle, but we know that many workers still face many barriers. Confidence gaps, the challenges of juggling caring responsibilities and work, discrimination and class bias.
“But these challenges create leaders with empathy, resilience and fire, leaders who will listen deeply, leaders who will fight with purpose. I will fight with purpose. I will never forget that I would not be standing here without those women who came before me and that I would not be standing here without the people in this room, my Usdaw family.”
Other keynote speakers at the conference have included the prime minister Keir Starmer.
Starmer used his address to highlight the government’s policies designed to tackle shoplifting.
Starmer told the conference: “Working people, grafters – go to work, do the right thing, keep our high streets thriving, and yet too often they are abused or assaulted by people who think they can get away with it and just cheat the system. It’s disgraceful.
“We are currently reforming the police across the country so we can free up their time and their money to focus more on street policing, neighbourhood policing, and cracking down on anti-social behaviour. We’ve already got an extra 3,000 neighbourhood officers on the streets, and there’s more to come.
He went on to say: “We’ve scrapped the ridiculous regulation where thieves stealing goods worth less than £200 would not be properly held to account. That was a shoplifters’ charter, and we’ve ended it. We’ve toughened up punishment too. We’re giving police stronger powers, making the abuse and assault of retail workers a specific crime and giving you the same protections as emergency workers.
“I’m not blind to how big a challenge this is. But the number of people charged has gone up by 17% in the latest stats. Shop theft is down – only slightly – but the tide could be turning. We are calling time on the free for all, standing firm, together, against the disgraceful crime of shop theft.”
Thomas welcomed Starmer’s policies on this issue, saying following the speech: “We have campaigned along with many retail employers for substantial legislative measures to combat this growing problem and we are pleased that the Government’s Crime and Policing Bill has almost completed its passage through Parliament. This government immediately set about tackling the issue and we are now starting to see the results of their investment in policing and funding for more uniformed officer patrols in shopping areas.
“The Bill delivers a much-needed protection of retail workers’ law; ends the indefensible £200 threshold for prosecuting shoplifters and introduces Respect Orders for offenders. This government has also started the process of reforming police services to put a greater focus on local crime and provide a Local Policing Guarantee. It is our hope that these new measures will help give retail workers the respect they deserve.”
Chris Jarvis is head of strategy and development at Left Foot Forward
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