News

Great Global Wages Betrayal

By Philip Jennings, UNI Global Union General Secretary

UNI Global Union welcomes the increase in the UK living wage and it is positive that wages are once again up for discussion.

100,000 workers in the UK will get a pay rise (£9.15 to £9.40 in London and £7.85 to £8.25 in the rest of the UK.) Two thousand companies have signed up to the voluntary living wage, accredited by the Living Wage Foundation, and they are to be applauded.

However, the true picture in both the UK and across the globe, is much bleaker. A KPMG report released this week reveals that 6 million employees in the UK earn less than the living wage. Another recent report from the New Policy Institute think-tank shows that the number of Londoners living in poverty now stands at 2.25 million of which more than half are “in-work poor” – an increase of a massive 70% in the last ten years. London’s overall poverty rate is 27% compared to 20% across the rest of England. Be under no illusion, while Mayor of London Boris Johnson and the Chancellor of the Exchequer (Minister of Finance) George Osbourne offer scraps via their half-hearted support for a Living Wage and a Minimum Wage, millions in the UK are suffering.

The Tory government needs to take more responsibility for establishing a mechanism that lifts people of out of poverty. In particular, they should drop their plans to cut tax credits and reverse their attack on trade unions. The new Trade Union Bill, which puts ridiculous constraints on union’s rights to take action, holds back their ability to fight for decent pay. Without strong union representation and collective bargaining, there can be no sustainable growth and a fairer distribution in the wealth produced. There is clear evidence that unions promote economic growth as well as combatting inequality, rather than holding back economies as right wing critics suggest.

It would be foolish to believe the UK government’s assertion that they are on the side of working people when the poorest are expected to be more than £1000 worse off by 2020 due to the proposed tax credit cuts and despite the increase in the living wage.

As TUC General Secretary Frances O’ Grady says, “We need strong unions who can negotiate with employers and win the Living Wage for their members too – not just rely on employer goodwill. Both employers and the government need to pick up the pace and get Britain on a real Living Wage.”

In a country where FTSE 100 CEOs earn almost 200 times the average salary of workers, it is clear that inequality is a major concern. And of course the UK is only one example of the global wages swindle, with the gap between the rich and the poor at its highest level in 30 years across all OECD countries. Today the richest 10% of the population earn 9.6 times the income of the poorest 10%. The quality of jobs is also declining – temporary and part-time work and self-employment now account for a third of total employment in OECD countries. The share in wealth for employees is also falling creating another fault-line between the haves and have nots.

This Great Global Wages Betrayal is a real and present threat. We must lift all the boats or our economies will sink. Our duty as unions is to continue to challenge outdated and fundamentally unjust neo-liberal thinking such as the UK Tory government’s ideological attack on the poor and make sure we win. We should not doubt that victory is possible. Only today the Tories back-tracked on the ludicrous idea that workers taking part in industrial action must tell police how they planned to use social media sites, down to the last tweet. Unions highlighted the stupidity of this clause in the Trade Union Bill and the government has been forced to drop it. Proof once again that commonsense and liberty can prevail. UNI and the International Confederation of Private Employment Agencies, CIETT have already told the UK government to withdraw the rotten idea of agency workers replacing striking workers.