Short-sighted attacks on unions are forgetting that a strong economy depends on workers' incomes
For years, workers in the UK have suffered real-terms cuts to their pay. The last Parliament stands out as the only one in post-war history where household incomes were lower at the end than at the beginning. Driving down pay has had consequences, in higher levels of debt, poverty and homelessness – leading to worse physical and mental health.
But even after years of falling living standards, give a few workers just one year of an above-inflation pay rise and all hell breaks loose. According to a newspaper headline quoting James Cleverly, Labour is “under the thumb” of “union paymasters”. The Tories, without a hint of irony or self-reflection, accuse Labour of “losing control”.
Britain’s economic malaise is a consequence of austerity, Brexit, inflation and high interest rates. Three out of those four were policy choices made here in Britain. The other, inflation, was made worse by the fact the UK’s energy security had been run down by successive governments over decades., “Empowering unions will stifle growth”. Have they not seen the UK’s growth figures for the last 15 years? None of the reasons for our poor economic performance relate to trade unions .
If workers have less money in their pockets, they have less to spend in the economy. That is fundamentally why the economy is weak. The UK economy will not strengthen until the incomes of the average worker are boosted.
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