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 around 450,000 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. The retail sector employs around 2.77 million people.
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.
Organisation.
USDAW has a managerial and supervisory section called Sata - the Supervisory, Administrative and Technical Association. This is a special section of the union representing employees in middle and lower management or with administrative or technical responsibilities.
USDAW is the recognised trade union for workers employed by Tesco; consequently, it has the biggest recognition agreement in the private sector and more than 160,000 (over a third) of its members work for Tesco. Other companies that have signed partnership agreements with USDAW include Morrisons, Sainsbury's, The Co-operative Group, Primark, Asda, Argos and Boots.
USDAW is campaigning for a recognition agreement with Marks and Spencer.
Publications.
USDAW produces a quarterly membership magazine for members, "Arena", as well as a bimonthly magazine for union activists, "Network".