Paddy Lillis: Last News

A trade union headquartered in Salford is facing possible industrial action from some of its own staff in a dispute over pay and working from home.

Sainsbury's and Waitrose are asking people to continue to wear a face covering in their stores when restrictions ease in England on Thursday.A Sainsbury's spokesperson said: "Safety remains our highest priority."From Thursday, we're asking our customers and colleagues in England to continue to wear a face covering in our stores if they are able to."In Scotland and Wales face coverings remain mandatory for those who can wear them in our stores, in line with the latest government restrictions."They added: "We continue to have a range of safety measures in all of our stores, including screens and sanitising stations."John Lewis and sister company Waitrose are also "suggesting" customers and staff should wear a face covering when inside their stores.Another high street giant, electronics specialists Currys, is asking staff to wear masks in-store. A release from the company said it would "continue to assess our approach based on infection rates and colleague feedback".Stay in the loop with all the latest Daily Star news by signing up for one of our free newsletters here.USDAW, the retail workers’ trade union is also urging shoppers to "observe Covid safety measures”as much as possible in order to protect its 360,000 members.

A panel of experts will draw up plans to revive town centres under a commission launched on Monday by Labour.

Pressure is mounting on the Government to step in to save the retail sector after 7,000 redundancies at Marks & Spencer took the toll of high street jobs lost since the pandemic to more than 100,000.